By Hazzaa al-Adnan (Kfar Nabel, Syria) - Shadia, a young lady from Kfar Nabel who studies law at Aleppo University, says that her father, a farmer, had to cut down five of the 20 fig trees in their modest orchard so that her mother could cook their meals over firewood instead of gas. “If things don’t get better, we’ll have […]

By Salam al-Saadi (Damascus, Syria) - Abu Nawras faced a difficult decision in June 2013. His chicken farm was not as profitable as it had been before the war, making it difficult to support his wife and four children. After months of losing money, he finally decided to close the farm, move his family to Damascus and open a small […]

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 […]

By Abdel Karim Jaafar (Raqqa, Syria) – Thirteen-year-old Mahmoud was excited to return to his eighth grade classes in September in the north eastern Syrian city of Raqqa, after more than six months of closure. “I was so happy to go back to my desk. I missed my classmates and I missed studying,” he said. Mahmoud resumed classes at the […]

By Hazzaa al-Adnan (Kfar Nabel, Syria) - In August, in the town of Kfar Nabel, around 50 people gathered one morning in front of Issam al-Dani’s corner store, which is licensed to sell government bread. The people massed there for almost two hours, dispersing only when the 48 year old informed the gathered crowd that the government bakery would not […]

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.

By Mariam Abdullah* (WADI AL-NASSARA – HOMS PROVINCE) – This past July, around 50 frightened Christian villagers in a town in an area of western Syria known as the “Christian Valley” gathered in a hall next to the town’s orthodox church. The village priest stood before them, and peered at the tired and anxious faces in the crowd as they […]

By Raheel Ibrahim* (Jaramana, Syria) - The anger is clear on the face of Motaz, 34, who works as a waiter in a restaurant as he talks about the opposition rockets and mortar shells that regularly fall on the town of Jaramana in the suburbs of Damascus. “Everyone should know that our patience has begun to run out and that […]

By Ghaith Ahmad (Deir al-Zor, Syria) - The Judicial Sharia Committee in Deir al-Zor was established by Islamist oriented factions of the armed opposition that took control of large parts of the city and its suburbs in the summer of 2012. Officials in the city say journalists are not permitted to name the area where the Sharia Committee’s headquarters is […]

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 […]