[Published here November 13, 2020]
Shredded tarp flutters from the metal frames of what were once thousands of tent homes. After five years hosting displaced Iraqis, the vast camp was emptied in under 48 hours.
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Yazidi doctor soldiers on in mental battle against IS | AFP
[Published here March 13, 2019]
Dohuk (Iraq) (AFP) – The military fight against the Islamic State group may be nearing an end, but one Yazidi doctor treating survivors is soldiering on against unseen scars the jihadists carved into her community.
Tribal truckers, praying paramedics: mixed bag on last IS front | AFP
[Published here on February 15, 2019]
As destitute civilians stumble out of the Islamic State group’s last enclave in east Syria, a mixed bag of unlikely characters are pitching in to help get them to safety.
In Syria, families flee IS holdout to dust and desperation | AFP
[Published here on February 14, 2019]
The cry echoed across the chalk-dry Syrian plain: “Water!” Within seconds, the truck carrying a few dozen bottles was emptied by parched refugees who had spent the night out in the open.
Hundreds flee US-backed Syria battle for last IS holdout | AFP
[Published here on February 13, 2019]
The ferocious battle for the Islamic State group’s last bastion in eastern Syria entered its fifth day on Wednesday, as exhausted families left the ever-shrinking scrap of land where holdout jihadists have been boxed in by Kurdish-led forces.
Fleeing IS holdout, French women say foreigners still inside | AFP
[Published here on February 11, 2019]
Two French women who fled the Islamic State group’s last pocket in Syria told AFP on Monday more foreigners were trapped inside, barred from leaving by Iraqi jihadists.
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Barely alive after IS, Syrian babies haunted by malnutrition | AFP
[Published here February 8, 2019]
They survived the Islamic State group’s crumbling “caliphate” by a thread, but skeletal babies streaming into this displacement camp in northeastern Syria now face a race against malnutrition.
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.
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.
Syrian boys caught in ‘vicious cycle’ of sex abuse, UN says | AFP
[Published here on December 7, 2017]
Beirut (AFP) – Syrian men and boys, in their war-torn country and abroad, have suffered “a vicious cycle” of sexual abuse with more devastating consequences than previously reported, the United Nations said Thursday.
In its new report, “We Keep it in our Heart,” the UN’s refugee agency said it had documented widespread sexual violence against Syrian males, including those seeking refuge.
MAYA GEBEILY 