Alicia Medina

Mahmoud Ahmad al-Hallaq, a grandfather, carpenter and refugee from East Ghouta living in Lebanon, recalls his time in the Syrian army cooking for Cuban soldiers during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, and the many twists and turns of his ill-fated quest for a quiet life.

Besides bolstering normalization with Assad normalization, how might the Saudi-Iran deal affect Syria? Can Riyadh counter Iranian influence on Syria or push Assad to clamp down on the captagon trade? Will China claim a larger political role in Syria or fund reconstruction?

After deeming Damascus and Reef Dimashq safe for return in 2019, Denmark is now reassessing the right of Syrians from Latakia and Tartus to stay in Denmark on the grounds it is safe for them to go back to Syria.

The international community’s failure to adequately help victims of the February 6 earthquake in northwestern Syria encapsulated the main ills of the aid sector in Syria over 12 years of uprising and conflict.

In 2015, Haitham al-Kurdi made the dangerous journey from Syria to Denmark alone, planning to bring his wife and children later. Over the following eight years, his hopes were repeatedly dashed as Danish asylum policies tightened.

Amid a spike in anti-refugee rhetoric, some Turkish organizations and authorities denied shelter, food or evacuation rides to Syrian refugees in the aftermath of the February 6 earthquake.

The scale of devastation in Turkey and Syria, speed of burials, and lack of resources for identification of earthquake victims raise concerns that families will struggle to find the remains of their loved ones

As the earthquake emergency response in northwestern Syria focuses on rescue operations and relief, some local organizations in northwestern Syria are honing in on the disaster’s impact on children.

Khaled and his three-year-old daughter Jawahir have only ever met on the phone. She was not yet born when he fled Syria in 2018, aiming to apply for family reunification with his wife and their daughter. But they missed a bureaucratic deadline, and for three years the family has been in limbo.

Through their own safe spaces and mutual aid, Syrian LGBTQ+ refugees navigate a triple nightmare: Lebanon’s economic collapse, aid budget cuts and a worsening climate for queer people in the country.