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Syrians May Escape War But Not Its Side Effects

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Social media observer can notice the the deep gap between the segments of Syrian society since 2011. This great refraction was not confined to the limits of the virtual world only, but divided the Syrian arena between the pro-Assad regime and opposition in the ranks of the...

War remnants: 2 million Syrians with psychological disorder

(Zaman Al Wasl)- The fierce war in Syria did not leave anyone without a grave effect on their spirit. Death may be the least of those effects, as some Syrians say, because those who died have ended their torment from the moment of the soul's descent into their Creator. Those who have not...

Activists launch campaign to stop Syrian women marrying foreign fighters

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrian activists launched a campaign in northern Idlib province demanding immediate halt of foreign jihadists' marriage. “Who is your husband” seeks expose the danger of Syrian women marrying foreigners present in Syria. The campaign comes due to the...

With $100 Million Grant, Sesame Workshop Reaches Out To Refugee Kids

In January, Sesame Workshop and the International Rescue Committee will start work on what they're calling "the largest childhood intervention in the history of humanitarian response." Funded by a $100 million grant from the MacArthur Foundation, the project aims to reach 9.4 million Syrian...

14-year-old refugee from Syria dreams of Paralympics

Najib Alhaj Ali is 14 years old. Two years ago he was left with a spinal cord injury, unable to feel anything below his naval, after a bomb attack on his home in in Homs, Syria. His father took him to a make-shift clinic after the attack but did not manage to get treatment. His...

Ain al-Fijah turned ghost town as Iran eyes on water spring: residents

(Zaman Al Wasl)- “A town of angels invaded by ghosts,” is how an activist from the Ain al-Fijah town, 25 km (17 miles) northwest of Damascus, described the situation of the town more than a year after the displacement of its people and the expropriation of their land and property...

Aleppo’s first displacement anniversary

By Yousef Halabi (Zaman Al Wasl)- December 22, 2016 was not a normal day for the people of Aleppo. It was a day associated with an infamous human tragedy that will never be forgotten. The al-Assad regime, with Russian and Iranian support, displaced thousands of...

Clay houses return as alternative to tents for Syria's displaced

(Eqtsad)- After an absence of more than 50 years, stone and clay dwellings and houses have remerged in conjunction with the regime forces destroying many buildings and houses in Daraa province. “Mud and stone houses emerged in the past two years in several places in Daraa...

Children of Eastern Ghouta dream of school

Children of Syria’s Eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus that has been under a crippling regime siege since 2012, are dreaming of the day when they can play with their toys and go back to real schools. Living under daily bombardment by regime forces and deprived of the basic needs of...

How White Helmets became victims of an online propaganda machine

The Syrian volunteer rescue workers known as the White Helmets have become the target of an extraordinary disinformation campaign that positions them as an al-Qaida-linked terrorist organisation. The Guardian has uncovered how this counter-narrative is propagated online by a network of...

Syrian sisters become voice of E. Ghouta on Twitter

Alaa and Noor, two young sisters from Syria’s besieged Eastern Ghouta district, are informing the world of their difficult circumstances through their joint Twitter account. Eight-year-old Alaa and ten-year-old Noor voice the pains and hopes of Eastern Ghouta’s children in tweets...

Eastern Ghouta: chronic diseases increase suffering of besieged people

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Hamouda, 5-year-old child boy, is not aware that the United Nations has a law called the Child Protection Act which concerns him and his rights as a child. Hamouda, who has haemophilia, lives his childhood different to other children elsewhere. He is one among many of...

Names Written In Blood And Rust: Documenting Syria's Disappeared

Mansour Omari had been held nearly a year in an underground Syrian prison, tortured and starved, when his name was called by the guards. He was going to be released. The other prisoners hugged him and wept. In the dark, they whispered, "Don't forget us." Omari would not forget. When he...

Why So Many Children Have Been Killed In Syria

Researchers have strong evidence that bombs in Syria were targeting civilians, including women and children. In the past seven years, barrel bombs have killed civilians almost exclusively, scientists in Belgium report Wednesday. Civilians comprised 97 percent of the deaths from...

How Syria’s First Oscar Contender Eluded the Government

In “Little Gandhi,” a new documentary about the uprising in Syria that began in 2011, two activists are trying to give an interview in Daraya, a suburb of Damascus. With the camera rolling, they pause. There is too much gunfire in the background. “The sniper is about 200 meters away from...

Basel Alrashdan, Syrian boy shared war experience at United Nations

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Twelve-year-old Basel Alrashdan, who arrived on P.E.I. in December 2015, was part of a crowd of children who rushed to the front of a conference room at the UN and announced the takeover. Alrashdan took part in a rap about children's wishes for the world, based on...

Women join opposition police forces in Aleppo’s liberated areas

Women wishing to join the opposition police in the areas liberated during Operation Euphrates Shield will be offered a second training course early December in the city of al-Bab , Mahmoud Ahmed, a police officer at al-Bab police station, told Al-Monitor. The...

Syria's besieged areas await winter with trepidation

In al-Houla, in Syria's northern Homs province, many residents are waiting for the cold winter months with trepidation. Living in one of the government- besieged areas in the country, Syrians say that there is a lack of diesel and most of the trees have been used for firewood....