Syrian regime

22 04, 2024
  • An overhead view of Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq, 18/4/2024 (Syria Direct)

Syrians at a loss after Erbil stops issuing visas

By Sozdar Muhammad|2024-06-07T14:41:27+02:00April 22, 2024|

Erbil’s April 4 decision to stop issuing visas to Syrians has been a disaster for those for whom the Kurdistan Region of Iraq was a safe haven from conscription or a place to reunite with family members after years of separation.

4 04, 2024
  • Clan leaders, notables and commanders with the Syrian military security-affiliated 8th Brigade participate in a clan reconciliation agreement in the northern Daraa countryside town of Mahajja in February. Among the group are Colonel Nasim Abu Ara (far right) and the brigade’s deputy commander, Ali al-Miqdad, known as Ali Bash (center, carrying white flag), 12/2/2024 (Busra Press)

Daraa residents turn to clan reconciliation over the court system

By Walid Al Nofal|2024-04-09T14:19:20+02:00April 4, 2024|

People in Syria’s southern Houran region have long turned to clan reconciliation processes to resolve thorny disputes. The practice increased after 2011, and peaked over the past three years, with residents choosing the clans over the courts with the encouragement of regime legal representatives.

26 03, 2024
  • A truck targeted by the Jordanian Armed Forces while attempting to cross into Jordan from Syria carrying a load of drugs, 24/3/2021 (Jordanian Armed Forces)

How Suwayda became a drug-smuggling hub

By Karam Mansour|2024-05-24T15:12:13+02:00March 26, 2024|

In Syria’s southern Suwayda province, suspected Jordanian airstrikes hunt drug traffickers and kill civilians. Regime-linked gangs operate with impunity and smugglers ferry drugs over the border. Local armed groups fight back. How did we get here?

15 12, 2023
  • Students gather at the entrance of the middle and high school in the village of Burj al-Qas, in the Sherawa subdistrict south of Afrin, 10/12/2023 (Syria Direct)

Education in Afrin’s ‘line of contact’ villages hostage to unpredictable shelling

By Salam Ali|2023-12-18T13:53:27+01:00December 15, 2023|

Villages on the line of contact between regime and Turkish-backed opposition forces in the southern Afrin countryside live under constant threat of unpredictable shelling. The volatile security situation leaves families choosing between sending their children to school, despite the risks, or depriving them of an education in the hopes of keeping them safe.

10 10, 2023
  • Torture survivors, activists and family members of some of Syria’s thousands of forcibly disappeared people rallied outside the Peace Palace in The Hague on Tuesday morning as the International Court of Justice heard oral arguments by Canada and the Netherlands in a landmark case against Syria for state-sponsored torture, 10/10/2023 (Caesar Families Association/Yasmin Mashaan)

Damascus absent as landmark torture case begins at World Court

By Mateo Nelson|2023-10-10T23:13:15+02:00October 10, 2023|

A landmark torture case brought against Syria by Canada and the Netherlands began at the UN’s highest court on Tuesday—with Damascus absent. While it is not a criminal case, torture survivors and family members of Syria’s disappeared say it marks another milestone in their long, slow fight for accountability.

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