Syria Deeply

Syria Deeply is an independent digital media project led by journalists and technologists, exploring a new model of storytelling around a global crisis. Our goal is to build a better user experience of the story by adding context to content, using the latest digital tools of the day. Over time the hope is to add greater clarity, deeper understanding, and more sustained engagement to the global conversation.

We want anyone who comes to Syria Deeply to walk away smarter and better informed about what’s happening in our world. We’re fielding your feedback and story ideas through info@syriadeeply.org

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Latest posts by Syria Deeply

Kurds Caught Between Islamists and the PKK in Syria

  25 January 2013

The Turkey-based Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK), and its Syrian political wing, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), have stumbled into a precarious situation. They are now administering a string of towns and cities along the Turkish border after the Syrian army handed the U.S. and the PKK control of the territory last summer. What should have been a dream come true for Kurds—who have long been discriminated against in Baathist Syria and aspired to have an independent state—quickly devolved into an even more oppressive replica of their lives in Assad’s Syria.

How Many More Syrians Must Die?

  11 January 2013

How many Syrians must die for the world to act? Syria Deeply catches up with Bessma Momani, a senior fellow at CIGI and Brookings Institution and an associate professor at the University of Waterloo, who shares her thoughts on this pressing issue.

Social Media Buzz: The Fallout of Assad's Speech

  11 January 2013

President Bashar Al Assad gave a rare speech on Sunday, his first since June, igniting Facebook and Twitter discussions that provided a jolt to both his supporters and opponents. The online discussion followed a predictable flow. Assad opponents dismissed the speech, pointing out that nothing new was said, while Assad supporters were invigorated, gleeful at the defiance of their embattled president.

Conversations: A Road Trip to Idlib

  10 January 2013

As part of our effort to highlight civilian stories, below is a conversation between Syria Deeply and a Syrian university student. She’s from a conservative Sunni family in Aleppo. She hopes to leave the country, but first had to get a passport from her family’s registered home address in Idlib. She told us her observations about the road between Aleppo and Idlib.

An Alawite Nurse in a Sunni Hospital in Syria

Traveling through rebel-held parts of Latakia province, in the Jebel Turkman region, we met 34-year-old Umyara, an Alawite nurse working in a field hospital. In Latakia, a stronghold of President Bashar al-Assad, Sunnis and Alawites have lived side by side for centuries. Now, with intense fighting in the Alawite-led regime and the mostly Sunni-led Free Syrian Army, many fear the animosity could spread to civilians across the religious divide.

The Last Survivors of Aleppo’s Infantry School

Adel and Ahmad, two 24-year-old college graduates from Idlib, are survivors of a showdown between the rebels and the regime. When the battle began for a military school near Aleppo, they were inside, serving time in the Syrian Army. They had been on both sides of the revolution, joining in peaceful protests against the Assad regime, but they had refused to join in the armed conflict against the government.

Social Media Buzz: The Crimes We Don’t See in Syria

Millions of Syrians are using social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Skype to disseminate and discuss the conflict. Each week our Mohammed Sergie monitors the online conversation in English and Arabic, pulling out the highlights in a feature called the Social Media Buzz. Apart from the relentless rounds of global diplomacy, recent headlines on Syria have focused on the rise of extremist brigades calling for an Islamic state and fears about the fate of Syria’s minorities.

Yesterday, I Defected from Assad's Army

As part of our collaboration with Syria Deeply; we are cross-posting a series of articles that capture civilian voices caught in the crossfire, along with perspectives on the conflict from writers around the world. Below is a conversation between News Deeply and a 20-year-old man who defected from the Syrian Army’s Sulas...

“Some Hope for a Solution in Syria” – Michel Kilo

Michel Kilo is one of Syria’s famous dissidents, a political opponent of President Bashar al Assad. He rose to prominence inthe Damascus Spring, a brief flourishing of political freedom and expression in 2000. Kilo left Syria eight months into the revolution and now lives in Paris with his family. He answered questions from Syria Deeply via Skype.

An Alawite Outcast: How One Syrian Girl Lost Her Mother

Loubna Mrie paid a steep price for her place in Syria’s revolution. As an Alawite who took a stand against President Bashar Al Assad, she pitted herself against her community; many Alawites have remained staunchly behind Assad, as the leader of their sect and the protector of their privileged position of power.

Cats, Guns and Spoils of War in Rural Idlib, Syria

Maaret Misreen, Syria–Omar, a former marketing student at a private university in Damascus, is living a life he never could have imagined. He’s originally from Idlib, one of Syria’s smaller cities in the heart of the northwest olive groves. Now he’s living in the line of fire as a media activist, documenting violence and escorting foreign journalists and human rights workers through Syrian terrain.

A Light in Syria’s Internet Blackout

  29 December 2012

Patrick Hilsman sheds light on in Syria’s internet blackout, which cut off the country from the rest of the world on November 29, 2012. The 29-year-old New York native landed in Aleppo to report on the conflict from the rebel-held section of the city, one of the city’s hardest hit neighborhoods. While he was online, reporting on the escalation in regime strikes, Syria’s internet blackout was taking hold across the rest of the country. Syria cut off access to internet service, isolating the country from the worldwide web.

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Syria Deeply is an independent digital media project led by journalists and technologists, exploring a new model of storytelling around a global crisis. Our goal is to build a better user experience of the story by adding context to content, using the latest digital tools of the day. Over time the hope is to add greater clarity, deeper understanding, and more sustained engagement to the global conversation.