Dear Deeply Readers,
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].
Exploring violations of human rights and international law in Syria.
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Civilians residing in the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp south of Damascus are caught in fierce fighting between government forces and ISIS militants, while being deprived of healthcare, food and medical supplies.
Syria Deeply answers some of the big questions surrounding the suspected poison gas attack in Douma last week, and the wider issue of chemical weapon use in Syria.
Tens of thousands of people have fled the eastern Ghouta suburbs of Damascus in recent weeks. Many of the hundreds of thousands who remain, however, are hiding in underground shelters, with little access to food, water and sunlight.
Mohammed Alaa Ghanem Syrian Academic, Writer, Pro-Democracy Campaigner and Human Rights Activist
Instead of trumpeting each new cease-fire as a step toward peace, the international community needs to understand how integral they are to the Syrian regime’s military strategy, writes Syrian academic Mohammed Alaa Ghanem.
Kim Bode
Hashem Osseiran
Alessandria Masi Managing Editor, Syria Deeply
As the war in Syria marked its seventh anniversary this month, Syria Deeply’s expert community weighed in on what the conflict can teach us about 21st-century wars.
Peter Ford Global Affairs Correspondent, The Christian Science Monitor
Not long ago the humanitarian concept of ‘Responsibility to Protect’ had currency. But this is no longer the case in Syria, where a new harsh reality is playing out in eastern Ghouta, writes journalist Peter Ford.
Laurie Lee CEO of CARE International UK
Seven years of war in Syria have taught us that the international community no longer has any shame. But the upcoming Syria meeting in Brussels presents four opportunities to change that, writes Laurie Lee, CEO of CARE International UK.
As host countries increasingly discuss the future of refugees and the possibility of returns, a new study from global social enterprise Seefar found that Syrians in Turkey share vastly different perspectives on the necessary conditions for return.
DR. Ahmad Tarakji President, Syrian American Medical Society
E.U. states must take action over putting an end to violence against civilians in East Ghouta by holding the perpetrators accountable and refusing to fund reconstruction efforts until the attacks stop, says SAMS president Dr. Ahmad Tarakji.
The government’s endgame in Eastern Ghouta is to overtake the last opposition holdout near the capital. But the bloody strategy Damascus is using to get there is just as important, writes Lina Khatib of Chatham House.
Hashem Osseiran
Alessandria Masi Managing Editor, Syria Deeply
Kim Bode
In the latest installment of our Deeply Talks, Dr. Annie Sparrow, assistant professor at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and Dr. Mohamad Katoub, advocacy manager for the Syrian American Medical Society, discuss the deteriorating healthcare situation in Eastern Ghouta.
The Lebanese government risks losing international support should it develop a formal repatriation plan for Syrian refugees. This has raised concerns that non-state actors will spearhead repatriation efforts, says Dima Mahdi of the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies.
Abdulkarim Ekzayez Syrian Medical Doctor and an Epidemiologist
There is reason to suspect health facilities are being deliberately targeted in eastern Ghouta in a bid to weaken the resilience of the community and make it more amenable to evacuation, writes Syrian doctor and fellow at Chatham House, Abdulkarim Ekzayez.
A look at the major developments of one of the deadliest weeks in the besieged Damascus suburbs of Eastern Ghouta.
The Syrian government has targeted a number of hospitals and medical clinics in East Ghouta recently, complicating attempts to provide life-saving care to the nearly 400,000 people trapped under bombardment, writes journalist Areeb Ullah.
Although much has been written about Syrian refugee women in Turkey being sold into marriage, little is known of the Syrian men selling themselves in wedlock. Two such refugees share their stories to shed light on what they say is a growing trend.
Amid unprecedented pressures on healthcare facilities in Eastern Ghouta, and the repeated failure to deliver life-saving aid, time is running out to improve the humanitarian situation and mitigate misery in the Damascus suburb, says medical researcher Dr. Annie Sparrow.
Alessandria Masi Managing Editor, Syria Deeply
Syria experts at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos weigh in on what must be done to improve the humanitarian situation and alleviate the impact of war in Syria.
Hind Kabawat Director of Interfaith Peacebuilding, CRDC, George Mason University
Attorney and Tanenbaum peacemaker Hind Kabawat writes about the deteriorating humanitarian situation for women in and around Idlib, where she cofounded the Jarjanaz and Darraya Women’s Peace Centre with the E.U. last year.
This year, Syria Deeply will be keeping a close eye on the various wars being waged in Syria and the scale of foreign involvement in each, as well as war crimes and accountability, returns and displacement, and reconstruction and reconciliation across the country.
With limited access to food, medicine and fuel, the hundreds of thousands of people trapped in the eastern suburbs of Damascus have developed a wide range of strategies to get through the government’s tightening siege.
DR. Ahmad Tarakji President, Syrian American Medical Society
The Syrian government recently allowed only 29 of 600 critically ill patients in Eastern Ghouta to be evacuated in a prisoner exchange. It’s the latest example of the regime using a humanitarian situation as a bargaining chip, writes SAMS president Dr. Ahmad Tarakji.
We’ve compiled our best coverage of the biggest issues in Syria this year – from safe zones and increasing foreign involvement to new avenues for pursuing justice, and the impact of Syria’s war economy.
Despite the de-escalation deal, a ban on humanitarian aid in Eastern Ghouta, where 94 percent of besieged civilians in Syria reside, has created a man-made disaster, writes Syria expert Aron Lund.
Syrian military intelligence-run detention centers are responsible for some of the worst crimes committed by the security apparatus. Their highly bureaucratic operations, however, have helped build bodies of evidence against high-level officials.
The so-called Islamic State has been driven from most of its territory in Syria, but the fate of the thousands of civilians captured by extremists remains largely unknown, writes Chatham House fellow Haid Haid, whose cousin was kidnapped by ISIS.
The route from Turkey to Greece was once crowded with Syrian asylum seekers fleeing to Europe. But in recent months some refugees have begun to move in the opposite direction because of what they describe as a rise in anti-Muslim sentiment in host countries.
News Deeply Contributor
A Physicians for Human Rights professional speaks to doctors and medical professionals in the Eastern Ghouta district outside Damascus about the devastating impact of the intentional use of siege and the lack of medical and food supplies in aid convoys.
Rogelio Pfirter Argentine Diplomat
The U.N. Security Council’s failure to renew the inquiry into chemical weapons in Syria unjustly questions investigators’ important work, according to Rogelio Pfirter, former director general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
The situation in the Rukban camp for internally displaced persons near the border with Jordan is rapidly deteriorating. International humanitarian groups are close to being overwhelmed, despite local NGOs and rebel groups trying to help out as well.
Tens of thousands of people remain in detention or have ‘disappeared’ in Syria, devastating countless families. Nevertheless, advocates say the issue has largely been avoided in peace talks and negotiations aimed at bringing an end to the Syrian conflict.
Syria Deeply spoke with Pawel Krzysiek of the International Committee of the Red Cross about the recent escalation in violence in the country – the worst since the battle for Aleppo in 2016.
The Damascus-based Syrian Law Journal discusses a proposal under review to amend the Syrian Nationality Law and grant Syrian women the right to pass their nationality on to their foreign husbands.
Nadim Houry Director of Terrorism and Counterterrorism Program, Human Rights Watch
The U.S.-led coalition must provide both symbolic acknowledgment of civilians killed by their airstrikes in Syria and material assistance to the victims’ surviving loved ones, according to Nadim Houry, the director of Human Rights Watch’s program on terrorism and counterterrorism.
Both men and women experience abuse in the prisons run by most of the groups fighting in Syria – from the time they are arrested to the moment when, or if, they are released. But for women, the consequences and impact can be much worse.
Kenneth Roth Executive Director, Human Rights Watch
Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, highlights the importance of collecting evidence of war crimes committed in Assad’s prisons in preparation for the potential prosecution of the Syrian government.
The sale and trade of women in Syria is not a wanton and senseless consequence of war. It is a consequence of a war economy in which nearly all warring parties and even civilians use women to secure profit, weapons, access or leverage in negotiations.
Lina Khatib Head of the Middle East and North Africa Programme, Chatham House
In Syria, hard evidence no longer drives accountability. The biggest beneficiary has been the Assad regime and its allies, who cannot be blamed for thinking they can get away with anything, says Lina Khatib, head of Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa Program.
Sexual violence continues to be used on all sides of the Syrian conflict, but in a society that forces victims to suffer in silence, documenting instances of rape is nearly impossible and the consequences for survivors are devastating.
Umm Omar had not seen her youngest son, Ali, in three years before he was killed by a U.S.-led coalition airstrike on Raqqa city. He is just one of the roughly 500 people who have reportedly been killed by coalition airstrikes on ISIS’s former Syrian stronghold since June.
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