[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.
war
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.
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.
Broken by siege, Syria rebels face worse loss yet in Ghouta | AFP
[Published here April 4, 2018]
Beirut (AFP) – The expected loss of Eastern Ghouta will deal Syria’s fragmented rebels their biggest blow yet, leaving them unable to threaten President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus and increasingly subservient to competing global interests.
Four years and one caliphate later, IS claims Idlib comeback | AFP
[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.
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.
Red Cross urges aid access after ‘unprecedented’ Yemen violence | AFP
[Published here on December 5, 2017]
BEIRUT (AFP) – The International Committee of the Red Cross on Tuesday appealed for “bold measures” to provide life-saving care to civilians in Yemen after an “unprecedented” escalation of fighting in recent days.
More than 230 people have been killed and at least 400 wounded in nearly a week of fighting in the Yemeni capital, now under the control of Huthi rebels.
In ravaged Raqa, clues to IS’s bygone media empire | AFP
[Published here on October 22, 2017]
“Special operations by the Caliphate’s soldiers!” boasts a torn, blood-stained pamphlet at a bombed-out media kiosk in Syria’s Raqa, a symbol of the Islamic State group’s once fearsome propaganda machine. Continue reading
MAYA GEBEILY 