[A joint piece with Beirut’s Deputy Bureau Chief Layal Abou Rahal, published here on October 1, 2018]
With a deadline for establishing a demilitarised zone around Syria’s Idlib inching closer, confusion and apprehension is rife among Turkish-backed rebels who fear it will cost them their last stronghold.
[Published here on September 23, 2018]
Beirut (AFP) – Pointing to a green screen as if presenting a weather forecast, Bilal Abdul Kareem analyses the Turkish-Russian deal over Syria’s Idlib, broadcasting in his native English from inside the war-torn country’s last rebel stronghold.
[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.
[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.
[Published here January 16, 2018]
The Islamic State group has been roundly defeated across much of Syria — which made it all the more surprising when it announced an official comeback in the country’s northwest last week.
[Published here August 17, 2017]
Beirut (AFP) – Syria’s opposition has lost one of its most powerful factions with the collapse of Islamist heavyweight Ahrar al-Sham, which once walked a fine line between jihadists and more mainstream rebels.
MAYA GEBEILY 