Bio
Madeline Edwards
Madeline Edwards worked with Syria Direct until 2019 and previously reported for the Daily Star newspaper in Beirut. She focused on under-reported displaced communities, particularly in Jordan and the Rukban camp.
Latest Articles
‘From one crisis to another’: Gas queues and frustration as Damascus residents grapple with fuel shortages
Damascus residents tell Syria Direct of everyday life “at a standstill” as a gasoline crisis reaches a head for a second week in a row.
In Rukban, rumors of dead, mistreated returnees leave displaced residents mulling an uncertain homecoming
The rumors were unconfirmed: two men who had returned to Syrian government territory from Rukban camp via a Russian-backed “humanitarian corridor” were reportedly shot dead by security personnel over the weekend, after attempting to escape a government holding center in Homs province.
Silence, paranoia in decimated East Ghouta suburbs one year after government recapture
Together, the grainy photos—selfies sent over a messaging app—tell the story of one life in East Ghouta, and how it has changed drastically since a year ago.
Hundreds of Rukban camp residents leaving US-administered desert zone board Syrian government buses
The photos are scarce. In one, a dozen or so women, young children and elderly men bite down on sandwiches as they crowd the inside of a bus. One of the passengers wears a red vest bearing the logo of the Syrian government’s Red Crescent organization, also known as SARC.
With tents swept away by torrential rains, northern Syria’s displaced seek shelter in mosques, olive groves
Three rescuers in long blue raincoats cling tight to a rope as a brown-tinted current threatens to sweep them off their path.
Desert meeting over fate of Rukban camp points to mounting pressure from Russia, Syria
There were no details in the announcement on where the supposed meeting would take place, or even if American officials had been notified ahead of time.Either way, that meeting went ahead on Tuesday.
As majority of residents flee north, one man in bombed-out Khan Sheikhoun describes recent onslaught: ‘Life here is like a horror film’
In the few quiet moments, Muayyed Abu Amer’s friends still gather to chat, drink tea and brew coffee late into the night—just like how things were before the war.
Syrian comedian on finding a distinctively Aleppo sense of humor despite ‘destruction, bloodshed’ in home city
In the early days, there was precious little equipment. Handheld camcorders, just a few props. Reflective headlights removed from cars served as light reflectors. And filming would usually take place on the bombed-out East Aleppo streets outside.
‘We’ve already died a thousand times,’ says one of last Khan Sheikhoun residents to flee wave of bombing
Khan Sheikhoun is a town of concrete. Poured-cement homes stacked beside one another, cinder-block sheds, shops and cafes.To be indoors during a pro-government airstrike or bombing is to risk finding yourself trapped under layers of toppled concrete, beneath the rubble of what were once walls and roofs.
UN-registered Syrian refugees in Jordan return home for visits, unexpectedly lose refugee status: ‘If we had known, we wouldn’t have visited’
Just outside Damascus’ Old City in what was once the sprawling working-class suburb of Jobar, Abdel Rahman* had a home and a family.But it’s been eight years since he last saw that house.