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.
Thousands of Alawites have fled to Lebanon following sectarian killings on the Syrian coast. Local residents are springing into action, while some fear a spillover of violence.
Despite an improved political and security situation in many parts of Syria, tens of thousands of Syrians have continued to flock to Lebanon since the Assad regime fell last December.
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.