[Published here on September 10, 2018]
Hailing from far and wide, they flocked to Syria to wage “holy war”. Now foreign jihadists face a fight to the last to hold onto Idlib, their final bastion.
conflict
On the backfoot, IS uses old tactics to gain new strength | AFP
[Published here August 7, 2018]
The Islamic State group is looking to recapture lost power by reverting to the grisly tactics that first propelled it to global notoriety, analysts say, including executions and kidnapping minorities.
After painful search, Syrians learn detained relatives are long dead | AFP
[Published here on July 24, 2018]
“That’s it? You’re sure he’s dead?” Seven years had passed with no news, but Salwa could hardly believe her nephew, a Syrian activist arrested in 2011, had been dead the last five.
Paving the way: Syria highway traces winning regime strategy | ِAFP
[Published here on July 6, 2018]
From second city Aleppo all the way down to the border with Jordan, Syria’s longest highway cuts through fertile fields of green, buzzing industrial zones and four major cities.
In rebel Syria, a race to save precious property deeds | AFP
[Published here June 20, 2018]
Beirut (AFP) – The external hard drive had been smuggled from Syrian regime territory through jihadist-held towns and into Turkey. When Ghazwan Koronful finally got his hands on it, he sighed in relief.
War, displacement reshuffle Syria’s demographic map | AFP
[Published here May 25, 2018]
Seven years of war and massive displacement have redrawn Syria’s demographic map, erecting borders between the country’s ethnic, religious, and political communities that will be hard to erase.
Doctors ask Syria to lift 7-year ban on access to wounded | AFP
[Published here on May 23, 2018]
Beirut (AFP) – Doctors Without Borders on Wednesday called on Syria’s government to reverse its seven-year ban on the medical charity, issuing an urgent appeal for access to wounded people in regime-held territory.
New Syrian land law raises red flags for rights groups, lawyers | AFP
[Published here May 4, 2018]
Beirut (AFP) – Rights groups and specialists are sounding the alarm over a new Syrian law on urban development, saying millions of displaced risk never returning home after losing claim to land left behind.
As Syria rebels quit Douma, questions linger over detainees, activists | AFP
[Published here on April 13, 2018]
Damascus (Syria) (AFP) – As Syrian rebels evacuate their holdout town of Douma, hope is dwindling that four iconic activists and hundreds of others suspected to have been kidnapped there will be found alive.
Syrians in exile search for answers in leaked ‘wanted list’ | AFP
[Published here April 5, 2018]
Desperate to find out if they can ever return home, Syrians exiled by their country’s uprising-turned-war are scouring a leaked database of people reportedly wanted by the intelligence services. Typing in first, last and father’s names into the online list, Syrians abroad hold their breath to learn if a long-awaited visit to Damascus would land them in government prison or potentially far worse.
MAYA GEBEILY 