Latest News
Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Rampant in Zaatari Camp
Editor’ Note: The editorial team changed the names of some of the interviewees for their own safety. By Raafat al-Ghanem (Zaatari, Jordan) - Um Ahmad took refuge in the Zaatari refugee camp in northern Jordan after fleeing across the border from her home in Syria with her two daughters. When a reporter from The [...]
-
Social Media Monitor: A massacre near Damascus
Social Media Monitor: A massacre near Damascus There were several conflicting reports about the death toll resulting from the military operation launched [...]
-
Aleppo City and Province Councils Lack Women Representatives
*Yara Mahyar Editor’s Note: All names in this article have been changed or are pseudonyms to protect the individuals’ identities. The local transitional [...]
-
Social Media Monitor: The Minaret of Al Omari Mosque Destroyed
A cartoon by artist Ayham Jumaa, shows the artist’s hope that the minaret of Al Omari Mosque in the city of Deraa will be rebuilt after the fall of [...]
-
More Syrians Turn to Air Travel as Roads Prove Unsafe
-
The Educational System in Syria: A Tragic Reality and an Obscure Future
-
The Theft of Deir El Zor’s Oil
-
Harasta: A Gutted City
-
Tal Abyad Local Council Provokes Resentment, But Security Holds Stable
-
Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Rampant in Zaatari Camp
-
Social Media Monitor: Sectarian Tension Runs High after Banias Massacre
-
Civil Society Flourishes in Qamishli
-
Shabiha Women or Spoils of War? Alawite Women Face Grim Choice
-
Islamic and Civil Courts: A Divided Legal System in Opposition-Held North Syria
-
Harasta: A Gutted City
Destroyed buildings surround the main square in Harasta which demonstrators nicknamed Freedom Square – Photography by Razan Zeitouneh By Razan Zeitouneh (Harasta, Syria) – The maze of [...]
-
The Horrors of the Holding Cell of Death
The Syrian security establishment’s detention centres are notorious. I have read stories about them written by former detainees imprisoned before the start of the Syrian uprising in 2011, and heard [...]
-
The Syrian Fraud Market saves lives
“This is a big relief.” I repeated this sentence in numerous calls I made to extend my gratitude to those who facilitated my younger brother Jawad’s defection from the Syrian army. The ordeal [...]
-
Syrian Activists in Istanbul Face Difficulties, Disillusionment
As an activist living inside Syria, I imagined Syrians living in Istanbul sleeping in fancy hotels and living comfortably. Activists inside Syria have even come up with a name for this kind of activist [...]
-
Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Rampant in Zaatari Camp
Editor’ Note: The editorial team changed the names of some of the interviewees for their own safety. By Raafat al-Ghanem (Zaatari, Jordan) - Um Ahmad took refuge in the Zaatari refugee camp in [...]
-
Shabiha Women or Spoils of War? Alawite Women Face Grim Choice
*Mariam Abdullah Editor’s note: The editorial team has used only the first names of some of the interviewees for their own safety. Rudaina is a 32-year-old government employee, and Alawite, living [...]
-
Syrian Children Pay the Price of War
Six-year-old Tasneem Jum’a didn’t know that the last time she would see her parents and seven of her eight siblings would be on January 2, 2013. That day, warplanes bombed her family’s two-story [...]
-
Forcibly Disappeared in Homs: A Wound that Won’t Heal
Editor’s Note: The people interviewed for this story asked that their last names not be printed for their own protection. Rahif Ghanem 22-year-old Nizar and his wife Hiam have been married less [...]
-
The Educational System in Syria: A Tragic Reality and an Obscure Future
The education system in Syria is in a terrible state. Military engagements, bombardments and airstrikes have displaced millions of Syrians, preventing tens, if not hundreds of thousands of students from [...]
-
Tal Abyad Local Council Provokes Resentment, But Security Holds Stable
By Youssef Sheikho (Tel Abyad, Syria) – On the eve of the fall of the north eastern city of Raqqa to the Syrian opposition in March 2013, the nearby city of Tal Abyad, which had been under rebel control [...]
-
Civil Society Flourishes in Qamishli
Youssef Shaikho Every day, the activists from an organization called Shawishka meet in a small apartment in one of the neighbourhoods of Qamishli, a majority Kurdish city in Syria’s Hassaka Governorate, [...]
-
Islamic and Civil Courts: A Divided Legal System in Opposition-Held North Syria
Rasha Tabshi Editor’s Note: All names in this article have been changed or are pseudonyms to protect the individuals’ identities. Abu Steif, a tobacco merchant, had a disagreement with his partners [...]
-
Social Media Monitor: Sectarian Tension Runs High after Banias Massacre
“Banias – A massacre at the hands of the minority that you wanted the Security Council to protect.” A photo published by the Syrian Revolution 2011 page on Facebook. The London-based [...]
-
Social Media Monitor: A massacre near Damascus
Social Media Monitor: A massacre near Damascus There were several conflicting reports about the death toll resulting from the military operation launched by Syrian government troops in Jdaidet Al fadel [...]
-
Social Media Monitor: The Minaret of Al Omari Mosque Destroyed
A cartoon by artist Ayham Jumaa, shows the artist’s hope that the minaret of Al Omari Mosque in the city of Deraa will be rebuilt after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad – Facebook The minaret [...]
-
Social Media Monitor: Explosions in Damascus Continue
A huge explosion shook Damascus on Monday, April 8, killing 15 people and injuring dozens. The blast tore through the Sabe’ Bahrat Square near the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance, and is [...]
-
Life in a Kurdish-Held Town
If you walk around the town of Kobani, you will see the flags of Kurdistan, the Democratic Union Party, and the Syrian revolution. The symbols of the Syrian regime have disappeared since the government [...]
-
Syrian Refugees Head for Iraqi Kurdistan
Muhieddine Isso The Dumez refugee camp in Iraqi Kurdistan is located on arid land with no trees in sight, ten kilometres from the city of Dohuk. Most of the camp’s residents are Kurdish families [...]
-
Torture In Syria Increasingly Brutal
Saeed participated in the earliest of the anti-regime protests in Damascus last year. He was among the first activists to start mobilising city residents and help establish a network to coordinate with [...]
-
Female Activists at Syrian Centre for Media Speak Out
The Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression, SCMFE, is a non-governmental organisation that aims to defend the freedom of belief and expression, in cooperation with government institutions and [...]
-
Does Syria’s armed opposition have room for non-Islamists?
*Editor’s Note: Syrian government military forces have recaptured the village referred to in this story. The interviewees requested that The Damascus Bureau not publish the name of the village. The [...]
-
Online Radio Stations: A New Experience of the Syrian Media
The last two years have witnessed the emergence of new media tools that have accompanied the Syrian revolution. These new tools have relied on the efforts of men and women volunteers, and reached its audience [...]
-
Sheikh Arour: Media Phenomenon or Revolutionary Figure?
Ward al-Assi The controversial television preacher, Sheikh Adnan Arour, 65, has been able to build up a large popular base in Syria using religious programs as a platform for launching vehement attacks [...]
-
Peaceful Opposition Continues Despite Militarization
Youssef Kanaan “We revolted against tyranny because it poisons and disregards our lives,” says the poet and writer Mohamad Dibo, 36, explaining why he stopped actively participating in the uprising [...]
Video
From Activist to Activist: Rami Nakhle talks about the risks of sectarianism
Activist Rami Nakhle discussed in an online lecture the danger of sectarianism in Syria and how to counter it. You can watch the full lecture in the following video.
From Activist to Activist: Amer Mattar talks about the use of media in Syria
The third online talk of the series of online lectures of ‘From Activist to Activist’ presented journalist and documentary filmmaker Amer Mattar. Mattar talked about the media in Syria and how it is being used during the revolution. You can watch the full video below.
From Activist to Activist: Hanadi Zahlout talks about the role of women in the revolution
Syrian writer and human rights activist Hanadi Zahlout discussed in the second online talk of ‘From Activist to Activist”, the role of women in the Syrian revolution. You can watch the full lecture in the following video.
Social