Severe weather brings extra hardship for citizens suffering effects of conflict (Salqeen, Syria) - Snow was once a cause for joy in Syria, but the darkness of war and destruction that spread over most cities here has multiplied the harsh effects of the December storm. In the province of Idlib, shortages meant shops raised prices on all goods, with the […]

The city of Qamishli has not experienced a snowstorm like the one that swept it on December 11-12 for many years. The Souweidiya power station that provides electricity to the al-Hasaka province shut down completely, leaving Qamishli and its surrounding villages without electricity for over 48 hours. To make matters worse, the government declared December 12 a national holiday, which […]

(Beirut, Lebanon) - Located down a narrow alleyway in the Palestinian refugee camp of Shatila in Beirut, is a workshop where women are busy making pillow covers, tablecloths, scarves, caps, wallets, baby clothes and other needlework products. This is the headquarters of the Syrian volunteer organisation Smile and Olive, where one of the rooms has been turned into an embroidery […]

Many children try to make ends meet by selling goods from makeshift stalls With the number of refugees in Qamishli increasing daily, there are now more than 100,000 in the north-eastern Syrian city, according to unofficial surveys by the Kurdish Supreme Committee. This small city has been economically marginalised for decades and is unable to provide jobs even for its […]

Setting up barricades is a widespread project in Syria, such as the one that separates Al-A’athamia and Salah Eddine in Aleppo. However, these sites are fraught with danger. Setting up barricades during the day both under the watchful eyes of snipers and in their crosshair takes time. Clashes have diminished since Al-A’athamia was stormed by regime forces and the armed […]

Eight-year-old Mustafa lost his entire family in December 2012 when government warplanes dropped explosive barrels on their house in the small town of Maarat Misreen in the northern province of Idlib. Mustafa now lives with his uncle Mahmoud, who’s too scared for his safety to send him to school. A report by Damascus Bureau correspondent Issam Abdel Hamid.

Fighting stopped in Ras al-Ayn (also known in Kurdish as Serekaniye) in the beginning of November after the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), a militia allied with the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), took control of the city and a large number of villages around it. Al-Nusra Front, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and other Islamist groups were […]

Qamishli is no longer the city of either black or white gold, as Syrians used to call it due to its natural oil wealth and cotton fields. The situation has now changed, and most oil wells have stopped working. Companies have pulled out of the Rmeilan field to the east of Qamishli after oil pipelines were broken and stolen, stopping […]

Manbij, a city of 72,000 people northeast of Aleppo, is relatively stable compared to other Syrian cities. This stability has turned it into a destination for some of Syria’s internally displaced people, who arrive in search of security, jobs, markets, and education. This is Manbij today through the photographs of Zaid Mohammad. The photos were taken on October 21, 2013.

Opposition-controlled areas in Aleppo experienced a state of relative stability in the past few months, as a number of displaced people returned and schools and shops reopened their doors. But the situation has become tense again in early October as clashes erupted between opposition fighters and regime forces. These clashes, and shelling, have forced some of the families that returned […]