Syria Direct

Without proper civil status procedures, a generation of Syrians ‘at risk of statelessness’ in Rukban no-man’s land

Samer’s daughter Farah was born two years ago. She was healthy, her birth normal—despite entering the world in Rukban, a desolate displacement camp in the deserts along Syria’s southern border with Jordan.

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Property seizures by hardline rebels stoke fears among Idlib province’s fading Christian community

The thief was probably just a teenager—around 14 years old, Abu Elias* estimates—but his gun signaled an allegiance to one of the influential hardline Islamist brigades that had come to control much of the Idlib countryside after the early years of the Syrian uprising.

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‘Like a big prison’: Months into reconciliation, invisible borders still divide Syria’s southwest

Some nights, it’s the sound of military trucks passing by. Other times, the crack of doors breaking from their hinges—tell-tale signs of security raids on neighbors’ homes.

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With return of ‘kingdom of silence,’ journalists contending with checkpoints, secret police in government-held Syria report from the shadows

It was the noises that would haunt Alaa* the most. As she went about life in her government-held neighborhood of central Damascus, the sounds of nearby airstrikes and surface-to-surface missiles would invite themselves unannounced into her home at all hours of the day.

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In one town in Idlib’s buffer zone, residents fleeing ongoing bombardments lose hope for Russian-Turkish deal

Huddled on a cold floor with his wife and three children each night, Mahmoud Khattab is frequently shaken from his slumber by crashes of pro-government shelling, just a few kilometers away in northwestern Idlib province’s Jarjanaz, that roll across the olive groves where he and his family have taken refuge.

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Featured Stories

Property seizures by hardline rebels stoke fears among Idlib province’s fading Christian community

Dec. 13, 2018

A rebel fighter stands beside an Idlib church in 2012. Photo by Javier Manzano/AFP. AMMAN: The thief was probably just a teenager—around 14 years old, Abu Elias* es...

‘Like a big prison’: Months into reconciliation, invisible borders still divide Syria’s southwest

Dec. 12, 2018

A child rides his bike past a mural of Bashar and Hafez al-Assad in Daraa city in August. Photo by Andrei Borodulin/AFP. Some nights, it’s the sound of military trucks pass...

With return of ‘kingdom of silence,’ journalists contending with checkpoints, secret police in government-held Syria report from the shadows

Dec. 10, 2018

Damascus in November. Photo courtesy of Lens Young Dimashqi. It was the noises that would haunt Alaa* the most. As she went about life in her government-held neighborhood of cent...

A life among the ruins: Displaced East Aleppo residents pushed to sell homes as promises of reconstruction, security go undelivered

Nov. 29, 2018

A-Sukkari district seen from the air in late 2016. AMMAN: East Aleppo’s a-Sukkari district was one of the hardest-hit neighborhoods, and among the last to fall, durin...