Violent clashes have been ongoing since Thursday January 17 in the city of Ras Al-Ain in Al-Hassaka province between fighters of the Free Syrian Army, FSA, who are mostly Arabs and members of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (known by the Kurdish acronym PYD). The PYD is known for its affiliation with the PKK (Kurdistan’s Workers Party), which has been […]

I entered the Yarmouk refugee camp on foot, taking the bridge. I was accompanied by a young Syrian journalist and an aid worker who warned me: “If we don’t manage to get out before 2 p.m. we’ll become targets for the snipers spread out along the edges of the camp.” It is not that the snipers abide by a strict […]

Razan Zaitouneh The European Union has recently declared that it will sustain “projects to support Syrians who have been affected by the crisis.” These projects are intended to build citizens’ capacity and civil society institutions, as well as promote democracy and freedom of the press.

Razan Zaitouneh At the start of the revolution, one of my friends used to relentlessly repeat that what is happening in Syria is going to be “a long story” and that the worst was yet to come. In his opinion, the world will not offer the rebels any support that might enable them to tip the balance of power in […]

The recent prisoner swap between the regime and the Free Syrian Army, FSA, left many opposition supporters angry, accusing the regime that it cares little about the fate of Syrians. The regime released 2130 prisoners from the opposition in exchange for only 48 Iranians who were held by the FSA.

Ward al-Assi “Here lies the Deir of Hearts: Angels carry the sorrow of Syria.” This sentence, written on one of many Facebook pages dedicated to the Syrian revolution, caught my attention a few days ago while I was looking for news of my home city of Deir El-Zor. My curiosity pushed me to seek out the young activists behind the […]

“Everybody should have someone like Almani,” said Abu Omar, laughing. Abu Omar, a battalion commander in the Free Syrian Army, FSA, in Eastern Ghouta outside Damascus, was talking about the head of a new police force set up after rebels took control of the area in November.

Alia Ahmed “I lost Palestine as a homeland; I will not lose Syria as well,” says Hiba, 35, a Palestinian living in Syria. Hiba speaks articulately and with passion about the crisis in Syria, which has naturally affected Palestinians as well, especially those in the Yarmouk refugee camp which has witnessed fierce fighting since December 2012. Thousands of Palestinians have fled […]

Jean Boland Two years after the uprising in Syria began, a generation of young artists finds themselves recreating their homeland in their imaginations and on canvas, as they struggle to make sense of a reality that is at odds with their creative and aesthetic values. Forgotten walls, memories, photographs and writings abandoned in a hurry, a record of transitory moments; […]

President Bashar al-Assad made a rare appearance on Sunday, January 6. In the speech he delivered at the Opera House in Damascus, Assad offered his view of ending the conflict in Syria. It includes having foreign countries stop arming the rebels while the regime forces reserve the right to retaliate to the “terrorists”; forming a national unity government that includes […]