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Welcome to the archives of Water Deeply. While we paused regular publication of the site on November 1, 2018, we are happy to serve as an ongoing public resource on water resilience. We hope you’ll enjoy the reporting and analysis that was produced by our dedicated community of editors and contributors.
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As the global spotlight shifts to the ground offensive in Palestine, reverberations are being felt in Syria, with which Israel shares a border – and a contentious history.
Activists and residents here say that since the start of Ramadan on June 27, fighters have been handing out zakat, or alms, of 2,000 Syrian pounds ($12) to every person who pledges allegiance to ISIS.
With Assad gaining ground in Aleppo, Damascus and along the southern front, analysts say it’s unlikely he will feel pressure to return to the negotiating table in the near future.
As part of a collaboration between Syria Deeply and Rookie, we’re publishing the memoirs of a teenage girl living in the midst of Syria’s war.
Bolstered by financial and military gains from its June offensive in Mosul, the group now has control of swaths of territory once held by the al-Qaida-backed Nusra Front and other rebel groups.
More than 2 million Syrian children have lost all access to education. In southwest Rif Damashq, one principal is looking to change things.
Their mandate? To apprehend civilian women who do not follow the organization’s strict brand of Sharia law.
In Aleppo, Sako, 60, owned an auto-repair business that employed 15 workers. Now the Syrian-Armenian, one of 11,000 to settle in Yerevan since the conflict began, rents and operates a small falafel and shwarma stand in the center of town.
Experts weigh in on the group’s current power, its future potential on the ground and the challenges facing al-Bahra as he takes the reins.
Across Syria, couples from different sects or with opposing political views are seeing their once strong family ties begin to fray.
Like other besieged villages, Zabadani has been closed off from the outside world – and from any medical assistance.
Why the regime’s new push in the city could signal the end for the moderate opposition.
Syrian women are running households, working jobs traditionall held by men, even picking up arms. But many say they are still marginalized on the political stage.
Syrian regime forces have allegedly targeted hospitals as a weapon of war, and doctors and nurses have fled the fighting. Telemedicine offers a way to guide treatment of patients in intensive care.
Many of the thousands of detainees released from government prisons after the president declared a general amnesty last month now fear re-arrest. Here, one man shares his story.
Aid needed by hundreds of thousands of newly internally displaced Iraqis threatens to overshadow those of Syrian refugees in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.
Rescue workers, known in Syria as civil defense forces, face a lack of resources and staff in opposition-controlled parts of Aleppo.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) may be activating sleeper cells in Lebanon, which fears further spillover from wars in Iraq and Syria. Three bombers have struck over the last week.
As the holy month commences, the extremist group is clamping down further on its Syrian stronghold.
Syrian regime gains in the strategic Qalamoun area face a counterattack by rebels holed up across the border in Lebanon. Post-Ottoman boundaries are dissolving in Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq.
An approaching drought and a water infrastructure largely destroyed by fighting are contributing to further internal displacement, illness and a sanitation crisis.
We look at the prospects of foreign intervention to check ISIS, particularly the chances that the U.S. will get further involved.
Residents say the group is training young boys and teenagers in the ways of both its laws and fighting methods.
Alaa begs on a downtown bridge, Rania makes $1.50 on an average day from passersby and Mohammed asks for change alongside his handicapped father. In each case, they are responsible for a family’s financial survival.
Our experts analyze why the move to become the Islamic State is significant – and whether anyone will take al-Baghdadi seriously as caliph.
We examine the potential for further collaboration between the two, their strengths and whether ISIS will be able to bring Jabhat al-Nusra and other factions under its umbrella – creating one cohesive unit.
Marah lives in a city under siege. She was 15 years old when the uprising began. This is the tenth in her series of memoirs of living in the midst of Syria’s war.
As reports emerged that ISIS has been gaining recruits from Jabhat al-Nusra and other extremist groups, concern spread in Damascus that its power could grow faster than expected – possibly requiring intervention.
Though Hassan Nasrallah says he’s willing to “sacrifice for Iraq five times as much as we sacrificed in Syria,” his group’s Shiite support base views the fight against ISIS as a tangent.
In rural Idlib, marriage offices are fixing people up – but some say they’re exploiting the institution of marriage for wartime financial gain.
As the OPCW declares that Assad’s chemicals have been removed and the U.S. claims a policy victory, experts caution that Syria’s government could be retaining parts of its cache – not to mention chlorine.
Above ground, rebels are exposed to Bashar al-Assad’s superior military power. But they say they are safe in tunnels and can travel through them freely, without fear of regime bombs and snipers.
Our experts weigh in on why this weekend’s attack signals a change in tensions between Syria and its Israeli neighbors.
At War on the Rocks, Karen Leigh and Nathaniel Rosenblatt look at how Syria’s growing IDP crisis could lead to a proliferation of extremism.
To give you an overview of the latest news this week, we’ve organized the latest Syrian developments in a curated summary.
Marah lives in a city under siege. She was 15 years old when the uprising began. This is the ninth in her series of memoirs of living in the midst of Syria’s war.
The group says the PYD, which operates autonomously in three cantons, has been recruiting child soldiers and detaining those who oppose its authority.
Experts from CSIS, the Brookings Institute, Inegma and Uticensis Risk on how the group’s Iraq offensive – and any Iranian involvement – will impact Syria’s war.
Living on farms in the mountains near the village, they say they’re still too scared to return home.
Syria’s regime has relied on Shiite fighters to claw back territory from rebels. A draw down of Iraqi Shiites to defend the homeland from ISIS militants puts more strain on Hezbollah.
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