*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 in the neighbourhood of Ish Al-Warwar, one of the poorest slums on the outskirts of Damascus, where most of the residents originate from the coast. In addition to her […]

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 over the profits from 25 boxes of cigarettes. He had no choice but to appeal to the Islamic Sharia court at Bab Al-Hawa, a border-crossing with Turkey located in […]

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 and Jdaidet Artouz, two suburbs southwest of Damascus. This military operation lasted for nearly six days and ended on Sunday, April 21. Several reports estimated 500 civilians died in the […]

*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 Damascus Bureau has also changed Tariq’s name for his own safety. Last winter, 34-year-old Tariq was a wanted man. The Syria’s feared security services sought his arrest for his active […]

*Lina al-Hakim Editor’s Note: All names in this article have been changed or are pseudonyms to protect the individuals’ identities. The local transitional governing bodies taking shape in areas controlled by the Syrian opposition have to fill the vacuum that resulted from the demise of the Syrian government’s institutions. The province of Aleppo, in particular, has been devastated by fighting […]

The minaret of Al Omari Mosque in the city of Deraa, one of Syria’s oldest mosques, was destroyed by shellfire on Friday, April 12. The mosque is believed to have been built in the seventh century and has a symbolic value for opposition supporters because it witnessed the first protest in Deraa in March 2011. A YouTube video shows the […]

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 home in the Hay Al Asafeer neighbourhood of Muaddamiyyah, a suburb of Damascus. Tasneem’s parents and six of her siblings died on the spot, while Tasneem and […]

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 the third explosion of this scale since the start of the 2013. The location of the explosion and heavy security in the area led many opposition […]

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 first-person accounts from friends and relatives arrested following the demonstrations in March of that year. Having heard so many stories, and, as a journalist, I always wondered what it was […]

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 through the Internet, thus challenging the government’s monopoly on media. Among the most significant tools are radio stations that broadcast over the internet, offer a […]