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Welcome to the archives of Syria Deeply. While we paused regular publication of the site on May 15, 2018, and transitioned some of our coverage to Peacebuilding Deeply, we are happy to serve as an ongoing public resource on the Syrian conflict. We hope you’ll enjoy the reporting and analysis that was produced by our dedicated community of editors contributors.
We continue to produce events and special projects while we explore where the on-site journalism goes next. If you’d like to reach us with feedback or ideas for collaboration you can do so at [email protected].
Haid Haid Syrian Researcher
While rumors abound about al-Nusra Front’s desire to create an Islamic emirate in Syria, the al-Qaida affiliate isn’t likely to do so any time soon, argues Syrian analyst Haid Haid.
It’s been more than a month since some 850 political detainees in Hama’s Central Prison revolted, taking guards hostage and overrunning part of the facility. Negotiations are aiming at highlighting judicial malpractice and the release of about half of the prisoners.
The Norwegian Refugee Council’s Jan Egeland explains that without consistent education, Syrian refugee children risk becoming part of the lost generations – a phrase they have come to loathe.
Marah, a teenage girl from one of Syria’s besieged cities, recently arrived in Switzerland as a refugee, where she is struggling with her first pregnancy and the potential breakup of her family.
Mardean Isaac Writer
Unless concrete measures are taken to support the steadily shrinking Assyrian community in Hassakeh province, one of the region’s most ancient communities may soon be gone, writes Syrian commentator Mardean Isaac.
With hundreds of news sources and social media feeds about Syria – some of which publish rumor, hearsay or even fake stories – we speak with Dirar Khattab, the managing editor of the Syrian fact-checking website Takkad, on what they are doing to combat this problem.
The only way to reinstate peace and stability in Syria is to document ongoing crimes in the hopes that those responsible will some day be brought to justice, according to a doctor working with Physicians for Human Rights along the Turkish border.
Marah, a teenage girl from one of Syria’s besieged cities, recently arrived in Switzerland as a refugee, where she is struggling with her first pregnancy and the potential breakup of her family.
A month-long struggle between the two leading factions in the besieged suburb of Eastern Ghouta in Damascus ended last week when the parties agreed to a cease-fire. However, the dispute raises questions over the rule of Jaish al-Islam, the leading faction in the area.
Overnight airstrikes reportedly carried out by the Russian air force hit civilian targets in rebel-held Idlib city in northwestern Syria, killing more than 60 civilians and putting two hospitals out of service.
Amid the atrocities in Syria, participants at the World Humanitarian Summit vowed to strengthen the so-called rules of war, but without major reforms to the current system, these pledges will never reach the battlefield.
After the United Nations lavishly highlighted its achievements during the World Humanitarian Summit, Syrian NGOs have expressed their dismay that the gathering failed to help develop sustainable solutions to the crisis.
Marah, a teenage girl from one of Syria’s besieged cities, recently arrived in Switzerland as a refugee, where she is struggling with her first pregnancy and the potential breakup of her family.
After Médecins Sans Frontières’ withdrawal from the World Humanitarian Summit, its U.S. executive director, Jason Cone, warns against conferences that blur the line between state and NGO responsibilities and calls for better humanitarian responses on the ground.
Christine Mahoney Director, Social Entrepreneurship Department of the University of Virginia
Professor Christine Mahoney, author of “Failure and Hope: Fighting for the Rights of the Forcibly Displaced,” argues from the World Humanitarian Summit that traditional political advocacy is of limited value in improving the lives of refugees and IDPs.
As Istanbul gears up to host the inaugural World Humanitarian Summit, Turkish support for Syrians – including its policy of granting access to education to Syrian children officially registered as refugees – will be in the spotlight.
Jeff Crisp Formerly Head of Policy Development and Evaluation, UNHCR
Jeff Crisp of the Oxford Refugee Studies Center examines the Humanitarian Summit’s key premises – a ‘grand bargain’ to bridge the gap between need and funding, and a ‘global compact’ to revive the belief that refugees are an international responsibility.
From underground hospitals to improvised compost to natural power sources, people in Syria’s war-torn neighborhoods have shown a willful and often imaginative resolve to survive against the odds.
Solon Ardittis Director, Eurasylum
Adopting a viable “strategic agenda” on managing migration flows at the upcoming World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul could serve as a dry run for the U.N. meeting on refugees in September, says Solon Ardittis, director of Eurasylum.
Marah, a teenage girl from one of Syria’s besieged cities, recently arrived in Switzerland as a refugee, where she is struggling with her first pregnancy and the potential breakup of her family.
In classrooms across the opposition-controlled province of Idlib, the school curriculum has become the battlefield for various factions trying to win the hearts and minds of Syrian youth.
More and more Syrian women are at the forefront of new efforts to solve local conflicts and counter the death and destruction that has engulfed the country.
Caitlin L Chandler Humanitarian Affairs Officer, Doctors Without Borders
Stationed at a field hospital in Jordan run by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Caitlin Chandler is bearing witness to the seemingly endless war across the border, one patient at a time, and refusing to look away.
As the war in Syria pushes on into its sixth year, the streets of Damascus are eerily absent of young men in civilian clothes. While many are off fighting on the front lines, thousands have hidden themselves away at home out of fear of being forcefully conscripted.
In Syria and its neighboring countries, an underground network of organ traders has sprung up, preying on the thousands affected by the five-year-long war and offering them desperately needed cash for nonessential organs.
As ISIS swept over large swathes of the eastern province, former FSA fighter Abu Khadija pledged his allegiance, believing the extremists were his best bet to topple the Assad government. Now, after escaping, he wishes he could take it all back.
Reporting from Syria’s opposition-held areas is dangerous work, according to local journalists on the ground, who say they’ve been censored and intimidated by rebel factions across the country.
Marah, a teenage girl from one of Syria’s besieged cities, recently arrived in Switzerland as a refugee, where she is struggling with her first pregnancy and the potential breakup of her family.
Victims, witnesses and locals interviewed by Human Rights Watch say that in spring 2016, Turkish border guards used violence against Syrian asylum seekers and smugglers, killing five people, including a child, and seriously injuring 14 others.
Sarine Karajerjian Admin and Finance Manager, Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs
Known as “Little Armenia,” Bourj Hammoud has been a refuge for displaced people since Armenians fled Ottoman massacres nearly a century ago. Sarine Karajerjian of the Issam Fares Institute explains why residents are now making room for refugees fleeing war in Syria.
Five years of near-continuous violence have pushed hundreds of thousands of people to flee Syria’s largest city, but not all of Aleppo’s residents have left. As Syria’s war drags on into its sixth year, we meet some of the residents who have chosen to remain.
Conor Kenny Physician, Médecins Sans Frontières
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) doctor Conor Kenny writes from Idomeni, Greece, where more than 10,000 refugees are trapped at the border with Macedonia.
Following refugee families and an aid worker fighting to keep the camp running, a new film produced by two young filmmakers and backed by Daily Show star Jon Stewart allows viewers to experience what it is like to live in Zaatari, the largest camp for Syrian refugees.
Damascene director and actress Nalia al-Atrash talks about the challenges of dissidence and censorship under Assad, the changing role of theater throughout the Syrian conflict, and coming to terms with a life in exile.
Twitter users have condemned President Obama’s failure to safeguard civilians in Aleppo after the US leader ruled out a plan to create “safe zones” in the divided city as government airstrikes and fighting with rebels rage on.
Marah, a teenage girl from one of Syria’s besieged cities, recently arrived in Switzerland as a refugee, where she is settling into her new life and preparing to become a mother.
Demonstrations in support of civilians beaing heavy shelled by the government in the rebel-held neighborhoods of Aleppo spread to 27 cities across the globe over the weekend.
Local and international NGOs are calling for an immediate end to the escalation in fighting in Syria’s divided northern city, where violence has risen to levels not seen in months and civilian centers like hospitals, mosques and bakeries have been targeted.
Government airstrikes on the opposition-held neighborhoods of Aleppo have targeted hospitals, mosques, bakeries and rescue workers over the past week, as violence in the city escalates to levels not seen in months.
Kenan Rahmani, a Syrian American political and human rights activist and a member of the Syrian Network for Human Rights, touches on the major failures of the steadily collapsing cessation of hostilities agreement. He recently returned from a trip to Syria in March.
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