Hazzaa Adnan al-Hazzaa (Kfar Nabel, Syria) - Mohammad al-Salim, a French literature student from Kfar Nabel at the University of Aleppo, is critical of much of what the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has been doing in the various areas that have been wrested out of Baath regime control.

By Hazzaa Adnan al-Hazzaa (Kfar Nabel, Syria) - The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, also known as ISIS, did not interfere in the public affairs of Kfar Nabel before December 2013, when it took control of the city of 30,000 people with practically no resistance. During their time in Kfar Nabel, ISIS raided several media and development organizations, including […]

(Raqqa, Syria) - Um Mar’ey, a woman in her forties, stands amid scattered tents after washing her children’s clothes in water warmed by wood fire. “We don’t have any blankets or covers. God only knows how we get through our days,” she says as she dries her shivering hands with an old rag.

(Raqqa, Syria) - New Islamist regulations in Raqqa are felt by students every day on a bus that transports them from Raqqa city to the private Ittihad University in the city’s suburbs. The male students sit in the front of the bus, while the girls sit in the back, because the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has prohibited […]

A prominent development in the ongoing Syria conflict is the ascent of radical Islamists, both Syrian and foreign, who advocate a puritanical form of Islam and who are ready to use violence to impose and spread their views. Jihadist groups, such Al-Jabha al-Islamiyya and the Mujahideen Army, are currently waging a war of attrition against the Islamic State in Syria […]

(Damascus, Syria) - The outrageous inflation of prices in Syria has driven the poorest and richest members of Syrian society to shop at second-hand stores. Each has their own reasons for resorting to used clothes: the poor are searching for affordable prices while the rich are on the lookout for brand names. “The crazy inflation is burning a hole in […]

By Lina al-Hakim* (Aleppo, Syria) - The snowstorm that swept through the Middle East in December exacerbated the tragic situation in Syria. After it closed off what few roads were still open and damaged property that had escaped the shelling, the storm added another burden onto Syrian citizens, particularly those who have been displaced. There is a dire need for […]

By Salam al-Saadi (Damascus, Syria) — These days, it requires more patience and fortitude than usual for 12-year-old Samer to do his homework, which he labours over by the dim light of what the family calls a “power charger” – a small, rechargeable, battery-powered device that can provide up to three hours of electricity – as the house around […]

By Salam al-Saadi (Damascus, Syria) - Forty-five-year-old Abu Khaled’s three sons stand in a long line extending dozens of meters on a cold December day in front of a gas station in Qudsaya outside Damascus, hoping their combined effort might get them enough diesel for heating. “The gas station won’t sell more than 20 litres per person because of 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 […]