Journey Into Revolution
The first time Leila heard the call to action was on March 25, 2011, in a grainy YouTube video of worshippers emerging from the...
In Yarmouk, Facing Another Exile
At 3.30 in the afternoon of December 17, 2012, I was in my office in the Yarmouk camp on, following up on some work...
Kafr Nabel Clinic Provides Vital Vaccinations
Rawan al-Junaid, 24, says that she no longer feels she has to worry so much about her baby Amjad’s health. The one-year-old boy has...
When We Turned into Black-Clad Corpses
The change began at a junction on the road between Aleppo and Raqqa on July 3, 2014. We were women brilliant and bright with...
A Lovers’ Meeting, Postponed Indefinitely
“A male dinosaur says to a female dinosaur, ‘Give me a kiss.’ “‘No,’ she says, ‘I don’t want to.’ “‘Well,” he says, ‘that’s why...
Education Suffers on Both Sides of Divided Aleppo
War has cast its dark shadow over the education system in Aleppo for more than three years now. Learning has become difficult for children...
Unwanted Attentions at a Syrian Checkpoint
I travel with my schoolteacher colleagues from our part of Idlib to the school where we work. The passengers who take the minibus include...
A Run-In With Islamic State
Before his bus left the city of al-Hasakah for Raqqa on last July, Mohammed asked his sister to hide his student ID card. He...
A Ghost City Full of Painful Memories
On the afternoon of May 24, 2013, the weather was beautiful and the smell of the wonderful jasmine which grows in Damascus filled the...
“A Trip Through Aleppo’s Crossing of Death”
“Attention!” the soldier calls to the rest of his unit, positioned behind their rifles and barricades. “Attention! Hold sniper fire, civilians crossing” At a...
Bitter Coffee, Strong Opinions in Kfar Nabel
Abu Hussam used to run his late father’s coffeehouse in the town of Khan Shaykhun in Idlib province of northwest Syria. When the revolution...
Female Detainees Swap One Prison for Another
For a while, Fairuz wished that she’d never left prison. The looks she got from her family, full of blame and doubt, felt more...
The Bitterness of Exile
Our life of exile in Qurqunya, a village in the north of Idlib province, began in August 2012. I left with my family –...
Syrian Journalists Wary of Rebel Factions
When Islamic State militants stormed the premises of Radio Fresh in Kfar Nabel in early 2014, seizing equipment and arresting employees, Salah al-Abed thought...
A Family Home Abandoned
“I’m going to sell all the furniture in the house and leave the city. I can’t stand the overwhelming tension and fear anymore, or...
Stopped by the Morality Police in Raqqa
M stood alone in a women’s clothing shop in Raqqa, waiting for the shopkeeper to come back. He had gone out to evening prayers...
