( Financial Times )- By the time he reached Turkey after fleeing his hometown of Raqqa, the de facto capital of Isis in Syria, Hassan was destitute and desperate. And so, over his own misgivings, he helped a friend working with western intelligence to pinpoint the location of an Isis jail in...

For about four years Sarah has gone around her community in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon speaking with fellow female Syrian refugees who have been victims of sexual violence, comforting them and telling them about local services. Her advice comes from the heart - having being raped...

By Faris Rifai (Zaman al-Wasl) The city of al-Lataminah has been at the forefront of events since the start of the Syrian revolution. The regime forces destroyed al-Lataminah city located on the right bank of the Assi River by bombarding it with various types of weapons. Most of the city’s...

The sound of the blast in Syria’s capital Damascus brought worried residents running, but rather than carnage they found a crew filming one of the country’s famed television drama series. Moments before, director Rasha Sharbatgi had been wielding her loudhailer, calling for silence...

By Faris Rifai (Zaman Al Wasl)- Prosecuting former Free Syrian Army members or revolution supporters who fled to Europe has turned into nightmare for many. The EU courts have been following cases brought against them by unknown people who are believed to be the regime's sleeper cells. They...

By Faris Rifai; Translation Yusra Abu Hamed (Zaman Al Wasl)- Ahmed al-Halabi, a Syria refugee in Germany, his holiday in Greece has turned into nightmare after arresting him by Greek police and seizing all his documents and passport and deporting him to Turkey. A similar story happened to...

By Faris Rifai (Zaman Al Wasl)- Umm Yahya, or 'The Mother of Rebels as many activists call her, had experience in nursing although she was mainly working as a mother taking care of her four children in the town of Tura in Jobar district, when the regime forces began shooting at peaceful...

Reporting by Shams ed-Din Matoun (Eqtsad)- Idlib province is known for its agriculture; it is famous for rainfed crops that rely heavily on rainwater such as lentils, cumin, chickpeas, etc. but due to drought and lack of rainfall in recent years, irrigation has become a major problem...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Ro’aa al-Hariri, 13-year-old, a Syrian girl living in Turkey managed to establish a free cultural library in the East Ghouta. The initiative came after Ro’aa provided sent many books to refugee camps in Syria and elsewhere to enable Syrian children to develop their reading...

By Shams el-Din Matoun (Eqtsad) For young Syrians in Germany finding a suitable life partner is a pressing challenge. At first glance, Syrian social customs and traditions appear to play a role in this challenge, and impacting on young people’s dreams even in countries of asylum. However,...

 (Zaman Al Wasl)- The town of Qamhana in northwestern Hama province has entered a new stage of "honoring" regime killed fighters. This time the regime does not honor its salin fighters by giving his family a goat or a can of beans or even a clock, but the regime went far as to address its...

By Abdulsalam Haj Bakri (Zaman Al Wasl)- Al-Bustan Association (ABA), a pro-regime charity owned and run by Rami Makhlouf, Bashar al-Assad’s cousin and Syria's tycoon, has been listed as one of the organisations under sanction for its crimes against Syrian people. ABA was a delivery partner...

(Eqtsad)- The land between Rastan dam and the river of al-Asi is considered the main agricultural land and the “food basket” for the Northern countryside of Homs, as it supply the local market with more than 75% of vegetables and crops, and it is considered one of the main food source that...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Mohammed, Mahmood and Ali, three brothers from the Yarmouk camp south of Damascus have a genetic disease that affected their muscles and their ability to walk and move, which turned their and their parents’ lives into hell, especially with the siege forced on the camp. ...

Leaping over bombed roofs and jumping through damaged window frames, a group of teenagers run and swing their way through buildings left dilapidated by six years of war in the southern Syrian town of Inkhil. The young men practise Parkour across rebel-held Inkhil, saying they find escape in...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- The Criminal Investigation directorate in coastal Tartus city has arrested a female member of an abduction gang connected to security officers in Latakia and Tartus, where many people were victims of its crimes. The security forces and criminal section in Tartus and Latakia...

By Mohamed Yasser (Eqtsad)- People in the embattled Eastern Ghouta suburbs have recently suffered of soar prices as a result of the siege forced by Syrian regime and closing the last entrance to Eastern Ghouta, as a punishment for controlling some areas of Damascus by rebels. Civilians in...

Abdul Salam Haj Bakri (Zaman Al Wasl)- Kasab, the once first-ever destination for tourists in Syrian coast  has turned into a deserted area since most of residents fled to Turkey after regime capture in 2014. The Turkish town of Yayladagi is the closest town to Kasab, almost hundreds of...

Fatima Rashid was recovering in a Syrian hospital after a deadly suicide blast when she glanced at a teenager with a bloody, disfigured face. She did not recognise her daughter. The wounded teenager was later taken across the border to Turkey for treatment and now Rashid, like many parents...

By Shams el-Deen Matoun (Eqtsad)- Cost of marriage in Syria, like all other services and issues, have become difficult and costing, not only the dowry that is paid to the wife to prepare herself and clothes before marriage, as people started to ignore it and just recorded on the marriage...