Syria’s environmental challenges have been sidelined—overshadowed by more than 13 years of devastating conflict and instability—but delaying climate interventions is not an option, Haid Haid writes.
People in Afrin remember the forest around Maydanki Lake for what it once was: a natural haven, the setting of summer days spent under rustling branches. Now devastated by years of illegal tree cutting by Turkish-backed factions, what hope is there for its future?
Wells that hundreds of Idlib residents rely on for drinking water and irrigation have been contaminated by waste at a nearby quarry-turned-dump, while local Salvation Government officials are slow to respond.
Around 25,000 people have returned to Darayya, just south of Damascus, since the regime fell. Destruction and a worsening housing crisis prevents the return of others to the battered city, home to 350,000 people before 2011.
The Zaatari refugee camp’s bustling economy ground to a halt when the Assad regime fell. Local shopkeepers say the value of their businesses has collapsed as residents uncertain about their future in Jordan save money and only buy necessities.
Since Turkish-backed factions took control of northern Aleppo at the start of December, more than 70,000 displaced people have returned to Afrin and its countryside, while others fled to northeastern Syria fearing abuses.