Outer Damascus

Silence, paranoia in decimated East Ghouta suburbs one year after government recapture

Apr 11,2019

Between bread queues and shifting red lines, war-weary Damascus residents navigate a city in flux

As displaced East Ghoutans mark one year in exile, tales of arrests and forced conscriptions reverberate from back...

Souriyeh / سوريّة: Damascus-Beqaa

Souriyeh / سوريّة: Women’s voices from Syria

LATEST FROM Outer Damascus

What’s next for the millions of internally displaced Syrians? A month-long reporting series from Syria Direct

August 28

Rebel fighters and their families arrive in rural northern Aleppo in April. Nazeer al-Khatib/AFP. After seven years of war, one image in particular has become a potent symb...

East Ghouta families mired in unrecognized births, marriages after years under opposition rule

August 02

A street in Douma on July 26. Photo by Louai Beshara/AFP AMMAN: Under siege in East Ghouta last year, Umm Hassan was running out of options. The mother of three from Douma, the ...

With dark humor and codewords, East Ghoutans unlearn ‘vocabulary of the revolution’ as Assad reasserts control

July 31

When Samer Yasseen visited the Syrian government’s newly established Outer Damascus administrative office last month, he said something he perhaps shouldn’t have.

Families of Syria’s disappeared scramble for answers as government quietly closes thousands of detention files

July 24

A mural on rubble in Daraya memorializes people forcibly disappeared in 2016. Photo courtesy of Majd el-Maaddamani. AMMAN: Abdulrahman al-Dabaas’ brother, Islam, was wearin...

‘There must be a future to look toward’: Syria Direct graduates 11th cohort of trainee journalists

July 15

Syria Direct graduated its 11th class of young, aspiring Syrian journalists on Sunday after they completed a three-month course in researching and producing in-depth, objective re...

Navigating new lives under Assad, East Ghouta students renew dreams of a university degree

July 12

Young Syrians walk through downtown Damascus in May. Photo by Louai Beshara/AFP. AMMAN: In early July, 24-year-old Sonya al-Hassan left her hometown in the formerly rebel-held ea...

After five years in Lebanon, one refugee makes a bittersweet return to Damascus

July 03

As the bus carrying Rahab Um Bakr wound its way through the streets of Damascus this past Sunday, the 36-year-old looked out the window at a city scarred by years of war. It was ...

Syrian refugees in Lebanon mull fears of detention back home as hundreds cross into government territory

June 28

AMMAN: Hundreds of refugees living in northeastern Lebanon packed up their belongings and crossed into government-held eastern Syria on Thursday, in the second organized return co...

‘We gained nothing’: Graduates of opposition-run East Ghouta schools lose years of study

May 24

AMMAN: Students in formerly rebel-controlled districts east of Damascus face the prospect of losing years of academic work and starting from scratch, an opposition education offic...

After government victory, one Douma resident visits home for the first time in six years

May 21

Approaching the outskirts of Douma city with two of his four sons in the car earlier this month, Samir al-Hamwi was both thrilled and terrified of what awaited him in his hometown...

PHOTO BRIEFS

Photo Essay: Inside besieged East Ghouta’s last cancer center

Photo Essay: ‘East Ghouta is dying slowly as the world watches’

‘A stab in the back': New wave of rebel infighting in East Ghouta amidst siege, bombardment

Heavy rains cause dam to flood Outer Damascus city, residents evacuated

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