Tag: Syria

O Read More
A drawing by Nizar Al Rifai.

On Digital Memory: Syria Taught the World the Value of Digital Evidence, and Just How Easily It Can Be Erased

Patrick Hilsman & Nizar Al RifaiMarch 3, 2025

For many researchers, journalists, analysts, and activists, the Syrian Civil War taught hard lessons about how easily a dictatorial fascist regime can target and erase digital memory. But the fight to preserve the memory must go on.

T Read More
Children climb atop barriers that are erected along Kobane's sealed border with Turkey to prevent potential attacks and crossings.

Ten Years After Its Liberation From ISIS, Kobane Fights a New Existential War

Patrick Hilsman & Henri SulkuFebruary 26, 2025

Townspeople from all walks of life describe the current phase of fighting as an existential war, a question of existence and non-existence for the town and its Kurdish identity. Many have personally endured the threat of ethnic cleansing when the Islamic State (ISIS) besieged the city ten years earlier and they are determined to defend their city once again.

W Read More
Women leading a demonstration in Syria in support of the Women's Protection Units, YPJ, and the Syrian Democratic Forces, SDF.

“We Will Fight With All Our Strength:” as Islamists Oust Assad, Women’s Struggle Persists in Syria

Ronahi HassanFebruary 19, 2025

So far, the HTS government has not spoken out about the role of women or women’s rights, and there is a general silence on the subject. As women in North and East Syria, we are determined not to take a step back.

T Read More
A torn poster of Bashar al-Assad clings to the crumbling facade of a former regime Immigration Office in Qamishli, Syria.

The Changing Syria: Voices From the Ground

Editorial BoardFebruary 12, 2025

The Arab Spring in 2011 being a distant memory in many of the countries engulfed by the protest wave, in Syria, the long road to freedom appears now significantly shorter than a few months ago.

B Read More
A woman in traditional Kurdish dress giving a presentation about urban engineering.

Building Alternative Universities in the Midst of War and Revolution

Luqman GuldivêSeptember 18, 2024

Three universities, several higher education institutions, and academies are now operating in northeast Syria. However, the real challenge is not simply to build schools and universities, but to develop an entirely new educational system with a philosophy based on new sociological principles.

S Read More
Afrin, November 2022, stumps of several trees cut down in an Afrin's Bafilyoun forest patch due to illegal logging by Turkish occupation.

Squashed by Climate Change and Turkey’s Ecocidal Warfare, Northern Syria Fights the ‘Worst Drought in 70 years’

Henri SulkuJuly 10, 2024

The fragile state of Syria’s ecology and agriculture has been weaponized by the warring factions of the civil war, often without a clear military objective, targeting the environment and civilian population. For neighboring Turkey, ecocidal attrition has become a prominent feature of its cross-border operations.