Syria Direct

Syria bids farewell to its “Kingdom of Silence” — but warnings remain over a “trap” in comparing press freedom with the Assad era

Syria became known as the “Kingdom of Silence.” Since the outbreak of the Syrian revolution in March 2011, hundreds of male ...
سوريا دايركتOpinion

سوريا تودع “مملكة الصمت” وتحذيرات من “فخ” مقارنة حرية الصحافة بعهد الأسد

عرفت سوريا في حكم الأسد، الأب والابن، بأنها "مملكة الصمت". ومنذ اندلاع الثورة السورية في آذار 2011، دفع مئات الصحفيين ...
سوريا دايركت

يهود سوريا وحلفاؤهم: مسارات مختلفة تلتقي في حلم العودة

بينما يعمل اليهود السوريون وحلفاؤهم في الشتات على إعادة بناء الروابط وإحياء التراث اليهودي في سوريا، تتصاعد في الخلفية ...
Syria Direct

Syrian Jews and allies seek a place in the country’s future, divided over Israel

As Syrian Jews and their allies in the diaspora work to reestablish ties and revive Syria’s ancient Jewish heritage, politics ...
سوريا دايركت

“نحن ورقة ضغط”: كيف تحول طلبة السويداء إلى رهائن في الصراع مع دمشق

مع اقتراب موعد امتحانات شهادة الثانوية العامة يعود "شبح عدم الاعتراف" ليطارد طلاب السويداء الذين تحولوا إلى "ورقة ضغط" وسط ...
Syria Direct

Denied for decades, Syria’s stateless Kurds edge towards recognition

QAMISHLI — Standing outside the municipal stadium in Qamishli, Assem Abdullah Hamou, 51, and his brother joined dozens of other stateless Syrian Kurds holding sheaves of documents on Monday. In their ...
Syria Direct

Why did Germany keep a report used to justify deportations to Syria a secret?

STUTTGART/BEIRUT — Since the fall of the Assad regime, European governments have been eagerly searching for ways to halt new asylum applications from Syrians in Europe, and to start deporting those ...
Syria Direct

In southern Syria, echoes of the US-Israeli war with Iran hit close to home

QUNEITRA — Muhammad al-Khubi and his family sat at home in the southern Syrian village of Khan Arnabeh on the evening of March 9, listening. By then, nine days since missiles, drones and interceptors ...
Syria Direct

‘A long way to go’: As Syrians commemorate the revolution, has it achieved its goals?

Fifteen years ago, the spark of the Syrian revolution was lit in Daraa province and spread, launching a series of events that would lead to the fall of the Assad regime on December 8, 2024. This year, ...
Syria Direct

With rare movement in Suwayda-Damascus deadlock, can a solution emerge?

PARIS — Following months of stalemate, a prisoner exchange between the Syrian government and the National Guard in Suwayda at the end of February stirred stagnant waters in the Druze-majority southern ...
Syria Direct

‘We lost everything’: How Israeli herbicides destroyed Quneitra crops and pastures

QUNEITRA/PARIS — All that once grew on Abu Taha’s 200 dunums (200,000 square meters) of farmland and pastures has yellowed and died, after Israeli aircraft sprayed large areas of Syria’s southern ...
Syria Direct

Shutdown of Deir e-Zor’s informal refineries upends a hazardous local economy

DEIR E-ZOR — In late January, al-Omar—Syria’s largest oil field, located in the country’s eastern Deir e-Zor province—was almost entirely deserted. Following the overnight withdrawal of the ...