Six months after four members of a Kurdish family were shot and killed by Turkish-backed fighters while celebrating the Nowruz holiday in Afrin, the accused killers are still on trial. Surviving family members face constant threats and physical attacks to pressure them to drop the case or leave Afrin.
The Syrian political opposition’s highest body elected Hadi al-Bahra as its new president this month, in a process overshadowed by leaks, controversy and allegations he was hand-picked by an influential group of politicians linked to Ankara.
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.
Questions remain about the impact on Syria’s waterways from the February 6 earthquake, which affected several dams and led to localized flooding.
Many residential buildings in northwestern Syria were already weakened by years of bombing or built in ways that did not meet engineering and construction standards when the February 6 earthquake struck, leaving them prone to collapse.
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
Cross-line aid convoys coming from northeastern Syria to support earthquake survivors in opposition and government-controlled areas have been stalled for days by both the Assad regime and Turkish-backed factions, in an apparent attempt to politicize and control aid flows in their respective areas.
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.
Racing against time, civilian survivors of the earthquake in northwestern Syria helped search through the rubble, bury the dead and care for the living this week, driven by feelings of responsibility for their community and the lack of an immediate international response.
Rescue teams in several countries have mobilized to help Turkey rescue the victims of Monday’s devastating earthquake, but so far no aid or personnel have entered northwestern Syria, where residents are turning to displacement camps as a refuge.
