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Welcome to the archives of News Deeply’s Women & Girls Hub. While we paused regular publication of the site on January 22, 2018, and transitioned our coverage to Women’s Advancement Deeply, we are happy to serve as an ongoing public resource on the Arctic. 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].
The battle around Damascus has grown fierce as the regime strives to take back suburbs around the capital city that have fallen into rebel hands. It is a vital showdown in the political survival of President Bashar Assad’s regime.
Traveling through rebel-held parts of Latakia province, in the Jebel Turkman region, we met 34-year-old Umyara, an Alawite nurse working in a field hospital. In Latakia, a stronghold of President Bashar al-Assad, Sunnis and Alawites have lived side by side for centuries. Now, with intense fighting in the Alawite-led regime and the mostly Sunni-led Free Syrian Army, many fear that the animosity could spread to civilians across the religious divide.
Millions of Syrians are using social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Skype to disseminate and discuss the conflict. Each week our Mohammed Sergie monitors the online conversation in English and Arabic, pulling out the highlights in a feature called the Social Media Buzz.
Below is a conversation between News Deeply and a 20-year-old man who defected from the Syrian Army’s Sulas Military Base and joined the rebel side. At his request, we will not use his name in this article.
Below is a conversation between News Deeply and a 20-year-old man who defected from the Syrian Army’s Sulas Military Base and joined the rebel side. At his request, we will not use his name in this article.
Rural Idlib, Syria–Adel and Ahmad, two 24-year-old college graduates from Idlib, are survivors of a showdown between the rebels and the regime. When the battle began for a military school near Aleppo, they were inside, serving time in the Syrian Army.
Loubna Mrie paid a steep price for her place in Syria’s revolution. As an Alawite who took a stand against President Bashar al Assad, she pitted herself against her community; many Alawites have remained staunchly behind Assad, as the leader of their sect and the protector of their privileged position of power. .
Michel Kilo is one of Syria’s famous dissidents, a political opponent of President Bashar al Assad. He rose to prominence in the Damascus Spring, a brief flourishing of political freedom and expression in 2000.Kilo left Syria eight months into the revolution and now lives in Paris with his family. He answered questions from Syria Deeply via Skype. For more on his story we’ve included a link to a video interview about his time in prison, jailed for his prominent political dissent.
Maaret Misreen, Syria–Omar, a former marketing student at a private university in Damascus, is living a life he never could have imagined. He’s originally from Idlib, one of Syria’s smaller cities in the heart of the northwest olive groves.
As the world celebrated the dawn of 2013, in Syria, the regime and the rebels were fighting for the suburbs of Damascus. President Bashar al Assad’s reportedly launched air raids that struck across the country, killing at least 160 people. Aleppo’s International Airport shut down, said AFP, reportedly after a rebel assault. The bottom line: more deadly fighting, with neither side really able to take control.
Millions of Syrians are using social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Skype to disseminate and discuss the conflict. Each week our Mohammed Sergie monitors the online conversation in English and Arabic, pulling out the highlights in a feature called the Social Media Buzz.
As part of our effort to highlight civilian stories, below is a conversation between News Deeply and Ayesha, a 29-year-old woman living in the Atma refugee camp in Idleb Province. She is one of an estimated 50 pregnant women in the camp; volunteers tell us there’s an acute need for baby milk. .
As part of our effort to highlight civilian stories, below is a conversation between Syria Deeply and a young schoolteacher in Homs. When he’s not in the classroom, he volunteers for a relief organization helping the victims of Syria’s conflict.
As part of our effort to highlight civilian stories, below is a conversation between Syria Deeply and a law student at Aleppo University. He stopped going to class after the regime crackdown on student protests earlier this year.
As part of our effort to highlight civilian stories, below is a conversation between Syria Deeply and a tradesman in Aleppo. He hasn’t been able to reach his shop since August because it’s on the frontline between government held areas and rebel controlled neighborhoods.
> Millions of Syrians are using social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Skype to disseminate and discuss the conflict. Each week our Mohammed Sergie monitors the online conversation in English and Arabic, pulling out the highlights in a feature called the Social Media Buzz.
As Bashar Al Assad’s grip on power weakens, fears are mounting over the fate of the Alawite community, the Assad family’s heterodox Shiite sect. Who are the Alawites? Why are so many of them fighting for the regime? How they fare in the next phase of the conflict will likely shape Syria’s future.
Jabhat Al Nusra, now a U.S.-designated terrorist group believed to have links with Al Qaeda, still wins fans in Syria for its disciplined, ferocious fighters. It is considered the most effective fighting force against the Assad regime, and its latest film highlighting attacks in and around Aleppo seeks to bolster that reputation.
Why did the U.S. choose to designate Jabhat al Nusra a terrorist group, in the thick of its fight to topple Bashar al Assad? Ambassador Robert Ford, the U.S. envoy to Syria, sat down with us in Marrakech to describe America’s rationale.
I watch people become refugees on a cold, damp November night, buses lurching through the gates of this dusty camp on the Jordan-Syria border, their passengers looking bewildered as they disembark into a new life. It’s one I doubt they’d expected they’d have.
Even as the Assad regime loses control of Syria’s countryside, and Russia shifts its stance, verbally weakening support for Bashar al Assad himself, it may not signal the end, says analyst Ayham Kamel of Eurasia Group.
A diplomatic source sent us a draft of the Friends of Syria conclusion, what would be the end result of this meeting in Marrakech. It includes, at least in this version, some very clear wording about “the legitimate need for the Syrian people to defend themselves.”.
Jabhat Al Nusra, long seen as Al Qaeda’s branch in Syria, has been designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department. The move was meant to sideline extremist elements in Syria, but opposition leaders say it complicates their work on the ground.
Syria Deeply caught up with Yaser Tabbara, a Syrian-American member of the opposition and one of the architects of the National Coalition. In an interview in Marrakesh he outlined the next steps beyond the Friends of Syria meeting, toward a transitional government.
Debate is intensifying over how the United States should respond to Syria’s escalating crisis. In recent days, Washington has formally recognized the Syrian opposition coalition, but thus far has refrained from providing rebel forces with direct military support. CFR’s Max Boot says Washington needs “to get off the sidelines” and build a coalition of allies to enforce a Libya-style no-fly zone. The New American Foundation’s Brian Fishman notes U.S. military intervention is unlikely to produce a stable Syrian government post-conflict, and recommends a patient approach of training and modestly arming rebels. CFR’s Ed Husain says Washington should avoid inserting itself directly in the twenty-one-month old conflict, a move that would jeopardize the credibility of the rebellion. The Washington’s Institute’s Andrew Tabler says the United States should transition from its covert “light footprint” support for armed Syrian opposition to overt outreach to non-extremist groups in the Free Syrian Army, including the provision of arms.
Marrakech, Morocco — Running into Moaz al Khatib on the plane ride to Morocco was kind of a sign, that this would be an interesting reporting trip. And yes, since I touched down in Marrakech it’s been packed with insight on what could happen next in Syria.
Syria Deeply has partnered with Syria Untold, a news aggrigator focused on the peaceful and creative resistance in Syria. Its staff, based in Syria and abroad, collect, filter and curate stories about civil disobedience and the nonviolent aspect of the Syrian revolution.
Millions of Syrians are using social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Skype to disseminate and discuss the conflict. Each week our Mohammed Sergie monitors the online conversation in English and Arabic, pulling out the highlights in a feature called the Social Media Buzz.
As part of our effort to highlight civilian stories, below is a conversation between Syria Deeply and a young professional in Aleppo. He is married with children and works in an insurance company. He describes himself as a liberal member of the middle class who used to spend his evenings smoking waterpipes in local cafes, until violence swept his city four months ago.
On Wednesday the US-led Friends of Syria group meets in Marrakesh, Morocco, in what could be a key diplomatic turning point in the crisis. Here’s a rundown of some things to know going into the week.
The US and its allies have hired contractors to train some Syrian rebel brigades in chemical weapons security, Syria Deeply has exclusively learned from four diplomats, including one US official. The sources asked to remain anonymous, as they deal directly with developments in Syria. The training would mark a higher level of coordination between the US and armed opposition forces, working to secure Syria’s chemical arsenal during a period of political turmoil.
As part of our effort to highlight civilian stories, below is a conversation between News Deeply and a 30-year-old businessman. He is an Armenian from Aleppo who refuses to leave his home, no matter how bad the fighting gets. We asked him to share some of his experiences of what’s happening in the streets of Syria’s largest city.
Less than nine months after Bashar Al Assad’s victory tour of the Baba Amr district in Homs, the Syrian president doesn’t need to travel to inspect his war against rebel forces. The battle has come to Damascus – Assad can practically see the fight from the comfort of his palace.
As part of our effort to highlight civilian stories, below is a conversation between Syria Deeply and a Syrian university student. She’s from a conservative Sunni family in Aleppo. She hopes to leave the country, but first had to get a passport from her family’s registered home address in Idleb. She told us her observations about the road between Aleppo and Idleb.
As thousands of families flee their homes and face the hardship of refugee life, fears are mounting that desperate families will hastily force their daughters into marriage.
Abu Leila is a Syrian journalist from Aleppo who contributes reporting and analysis to Syria Deeply. He has written under that pen name since the start of the conflict. Today he gives us a look at the bread shortage in Aleppo. Subsidized bread, paid for by the government, is a mainstay of many families struggling to put food on the table. Over the past week, subsidized bakeries have shut down, leaving many of those families hungry.
As part of our effort to highlight civilian stories, below is a conversation between News Deeply and a Christian in Aleppo, a high school teacher in his fifties. He has lived in Aleppo all his life, his family left the country for their safety. He’s chosen to stay to keep working and watch over their home.
Yassin Al Haj Saleh is a prominent moderate dissident in Damascus. He is an independent writer and journalist from a family of leftist activists, who spent almost two decades in prison for his views against President Bashar al Assad. He agreed to an interview with Syria Deeply via email. It was translated by our team from Arabic. .
> Millions of Syrians are using social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Skype to disseminate and discuss the conflict. Each week our Mohammed Sergie monitors the online conversation in English and Arabic, pulling out the highlights in a feature called the Social Media Buzz.
Matthew VanDyke is US citizen who spent the past two months embedded with the Free Syrian Army in Aleppo. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, he describes himself as “a veteran of the Libyan revolution” and an activist filmmaker – he’s currently making a pro-FSA film to raise money for weapons and ammunition. At times he’s been a controversial figure of the Arab Spring, for his direct engagement in the uprisings.
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