Homs

‘To the regime, or to the north?’ Rukban residents grapple with hopes of leaving desert camp behind

Feb. 18, 2019

SARC aid vehicles arrive at Rukban on February 6. SARC/AFP. AMMAN: Qassem has a lot on his mind lately. The father of two is among some 40,000 displaced Syrians residing in the remote Rukban displacement camp along Syria’s border with Jordan. There, he lives within a sprawl of makeshift mud homes and tents that provide little warmth from this year’s bitterly cold winter. He’s ...

UN-SARC aid convoy reaches Rukban camp as residents call for safe passage north

Feb. 6, 2019

Rare humanitarian convoy set to reach Rukban next week, says UN, amid ‘hardest winter yet’ for desert camp

Jan. 31, 2019

Storm Norma: Inclement weather sweeping Lebanon reveals myriad vulnerabilities of refugees in Arsal, Beqaa Valley

Jan. 9, 2019

Snow falls on tent canvuses near northeastern Lebanon's Arsal on January 8. Photo courtesy of Ahmad al-Quseir. AMMAN: Up one of the steep hillsides that line Lebanon’s Beqa...

US allies in Syria left stunned by shock announcement of military withdrawal

Dec. 20, 2018

US forces near Manbij in 2017. Delil Souleiman/AFP. AMMAN: US-backed factions and displaced Syrians in eastern Syria expressed “surprise” on Thursday over a shock dec...

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

Dec. 18, 2018

Rukban in December. Video courtesy of the Rukban Civil Administration. AMMAN: Samer’s daughter Farah was born two years ago. She was healthy, her birth normal—d...

In Jordan’s capital, Syrian refugees mull a complicated return home across recently reopened border

Nov. 5, 2018

A shopping street in Amman on October 24. Photo by Madeline Edwards. AMMAN: Just one grey-haired customer sits silently inside 35-year-old Marwan’s barbershop.* Outside, i...

After repeat delays, long-awaited aid convoy reaches Rukban camp amid critical food, medicine shortages

Nov. 4, 2018

SARC personnel near trucks carrying humanitarian aid to Rukban camp. Photo courtesy of SARC. AMMAN: UN and Syrian Arab Red Crescent aid workers began distributing humanitarian ai...

Stranded in Syrian desert, Rukban's displaced wait on stalled UN aid delivery

Oct. 30, 2018

A sandstorm hits Rukban camp in October. Photo courtesy of Rukban Civil Council. AMMAN: Tens of thousands of civilians stranded in the desolate Rukban camp in the deserts of...

Ongoing closure of Rukban smuggling route leaves thousands of displaced Syrians fearing ‘siege’-like conditions

Oct. 14, 2018

Displaced Syrians protest conditions in Rukban on October 10. Photo by Omar a-Shawi. AMMAN: A vital smuggling route that once allowed truckloads of food and medical supplies to e...

Despite revival in smuggling, Rukban’s markets go quiet

Oct. 8, 2018

A shop in Rukban on Thursday. Photo by Omar a-Shawi for Syria Direct. AMMAN: The rows of canvas-ceilinged mud stalls that make up the Rukban settlement’s central market wer...

‘Those who must go, must go’: As the years drag on in Rukban camp, pregnant women face strapped medical services or a risky return home

Oct. 4, 2018

Rukban women enter UN-run clinic in Jordan in March 2017. Photo by Khalil Mazraawi/AFP. AMMAN: Bishayr is terrified of giving birth. Originally from rural Homs, the 19-...

Despite talk of returns, displaced Syrians in Rukban remain ‘caught in the middle’ of closed borders and geopolitics

Oct. 3, 2018

Pocket after pocket of opposition-held territory has fallen to the Syrian government and its allies over the past year in a grim cycle: sieges and bombardments turn to negotiation...