Forty-Eight Hours in the War Zone
The events of June 28, 2012 are etched in my memory. They come back to haunt me every time I smell the stench of...
“Mama, Why Are They Shelling Us?”
Daily life in the city of Daraya has been full of chaos and death since the uprising began. It is no longer safe to...
Syria: My Friend the Martyr
“My friend the martyr.” An entire year has passed between my writing that sentence and now these lines. When I wrote “my friend the...
Raqqa’s “Merciful” Morality Squad
One morning in mid-November, Bushra left the house as she did every day at seven am. She heard Abu Saad, who drove the service...
Surgery Under Fire
I live in Aleppo, in an area under regime control where it is hard to move around and working for the revolution. People say...
Defying Tradition to Join the Revolution
On the night of April 20, 2011, I was hurrying to join a candlelight vigil. I had hesitated about attending, but eventually decided to...
Revolution Compounds Hardships Endured by Syrian Widow
My name is Um Nizar, and I’m from Kfar Nabel in Idlib province. I’m almost 57 years old and I live with my children...
Help Needed After Syria’s Harsh Winter
Humanitarian organisations are delivering urgent aid programmes to help needy Syrians affected by a particularly harsh winter. Aid convoys aimed at helping tens of...
Death From Above in Aleppo
We had come to Tariq al-Bab, Aleppo, to celebrate New Year’s Eve 2013 at a children’s festival organised by the Democratic Forum. I come...
Women Told to Hide “Shining Eyes” in Raqqa
One day in late December, Yara and her cousin decided to go the nearby grocer’s shop to buy a few items. It was a...
Life or Death a Matter of Luck in Damascus
It’s three in the afternoon on a February day in 2015. My mobile phone rings in my bag. It’s my mother calling. “Where...
The Martyr’s Wife
She will always remember the fourth day of Eid al-Adha in 2013. That was the day she took her infant daughter, just under a...
Yarmouk: Killing Hunger With Sleep
In the past my thoughts were built upon certain rules. I don’t know where I got them from or why I decided they were...
After Army’s Defeat, People Trickle Back to Idlib Towns
Families have begun returning to towns and villages in the southern countryside of Syria’s Idlib province since rebel forces seized the Wadi al-Dayf and...
My Brother, the Martyr
In Deir al-Zor, we marched in protests during the day and hid at home in the evenings, listening to the sounds of clashes and...
Deir al-Zor Suffers Under Islamic State’s Harsh Rules on Aid
Silent and subdued, Um Qassem stands in a long queue in the city of Deir al-Zor waiting to receive a package of food aid....
