Sadiq’s face betrays no emotion as he watches the footage of bodies being played on the satellite channel Al-Arabiya. He is silent at first, and when he does speak he repeats the same thing he always tells his friends with whom he goes out to film protests, funeral processions and the devastation left by the shelling of southern Damascus. “If [...]

Amer Matar Amer Mattar is a journalist and documentary filmmaker. He is currently the director of Al-Sharii’ Media and Development organization, and he writes for several Arabic newspapers. He is a member of the first elected administrative body of the Syrian Journalists Association, and a board member in its new media committee.  Mattar was a director of the “Syrian street” [...]

Hanadi Zahlout Hanadi Zahlout is a Syrian writer and human rights activist who has worked on defending women and children’s rights in Syria since 2006. Zahlout has worked on political prisoners’ cases since 2008. She was active under the name Hiam Jamil on Facebook and she wrote under both her real name and pseudonym for many websites such as Al-Nidaa, [...]

Um Nasser is just one of the innumerable women in Syria struck down by tragedy. The 74-year-old widow, from the town of Mouaddamiyya outside Damascus, had four sons and two daughters. But two sons are now dead, and the other two are under arrest.

A unified opposition? Syrian opposition factions reached an agreement on the formation of a unified national coalition, after long meetings in Qatar’s Capital, Doha. The new coalition, formed on Sunday, includes the Syrian National Council, SNC, and representatives of both civil and armed opposition groups inside Syria. The leaders who pushed for the agreement hope that this plan will lead [...]

“Syria is fine” and “it’s over” are two oft-repeated assertions among Syrian officials, collaborators and supporters of the regime, referring to the supposed end of the Syrian crisis. Facts on the ground, however, indicate that Syrians have many more difficult days ahead of them, whether the crisis ends now or continues until the regime is toppled.

Consequences of current instability on employment, job market and inflation cannot be underestimated Syria’s political situation has inevitably affected its economy. The market is far from encouraging for workers and the economic situation is instable. As Syrian officials’ sonorous statements continue, depicting the regime and its leader as the tender father who solves many problems, the issue has arisen of [...]

Daraa, June 22, At one of the check-points in the village of Horan, a member of the security forces stopped a woman heading to the besieged city of Daraa, asking her sarcastically, “Do you still want freedom?” “I do not want freedom, but I want the regime to fall,” she said, and spat in his face. A volley of shots [...]

Analysis: New media in Syria remains in thrall to the regime By Shahine Mroue The apple of Syria’s private news media has not fallen very far from the state-controlled tree. A tangle of propaganda has always prevented professional media from serving the public, as well as the journalists themselves. The best examples of this among of the excess of websites [...]

Today, Damascus is a thriving, yet divided city. A small elite of nouveaux riches enjoy life to the fullest, drive the latest car models, shop in fancy fashion stores and dine in expensive restaurants. The majority of the Syrians though struggle hard to make ends meet. The celebration of President Bashar Al-Assad’s tenth anniversary of accession to power took an [...]