IWPR Top Stories

Fighting Over An Unexploded Missile

Sun, 25 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0100

Missiles have become a precious resource for local people who can sell the remnants for high prices.

On January 12, 2017, the town of Dar al-Kabira near Kafr Nabel was targeted in a regime airstrike.

Abu Mohammed, a resident of the nearby camp for internally displaced people [IDPs] explained what happened next.

“The warplane dropped a number of missiles on agricultural land by the camp. Some of them hit people, but one of the missiles didn’t explode, possibly due to moisture or a defect in the detonator.”

He explained that Jabal al-Zawiyeh’s bomb disposal team quickly arrived on the scene along with ambulances sent to treat the wounded.

“But a group of men from the camp prevented the committee from taking the missile after it had been defused,” Abu Mohammed continued.

An unexploded missile becomes a valuable resource. (Photo: Yazan al-Zaydan)
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A Wartime Epidemic of Begging

Sat, 10 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0100

Both young and old are forced to survive as best they can.

Gumendar is 60 but looks much older, her face wrinkled by the trauma of the years of conflict.

Originally from the village of al-Jabin in the Hama countryside, she spends her days wandering the streets of Kafr Nabl begging for whatever charity people can spare.

“I wasn’t a beggar before the war,” she explained. “I lived a respectable life in al-Jabin. My family and I used to harvest fruit and earned enough money from this to live decently.”

But everything changed after Gumendar’s husband died and the war reached her home village.

“My two daughters and I were forced to go to the village of Shulin in the Idlib countryside after the regime army entered our own village,” she continued. “We had to leave our house and all our possessions behind.”

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Recycling Industry Booms in Idlib

Sat, 10 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0100

Collecting and reusing waste has proved to be an unexpected source of income.

Twelve-year-old Amer roams the streets of Maarrat al-Nu’man from morning to night, gathering whatever scraps of plastic and metal he can find.

Covered in dust, his hair shaggy and unkempt, the boy stuffs his loot into a sack with the aim of selling it to make a little money for himself and his family.

Like many others in the Idlib countryside, Amer is scratching a living by collecting and selling rubbish. Some scraps go to specialised recycling factories, while other items can be resold if not too damaged.

Rubbish recycled every day. (Photo: Maher al-Omar)
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The First Day of Our Revolution

Sat, 03 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0100

Hope and unity ends in pain and anger.

It wasn’t a normal day for the people of Homs. On 18 April, 2011, the city seemed to witness a rebirth. Demonstrations against the regime took place in most neighbourhoods and walls were spray-painted with slogans saying, “We want freedom.”

But the next day, as usual, I went in the morning to my job in central Homs, where I was working as a radiographer in a medical centre overlooking the old clock square.

I learned that there would be a funeral procession for seven of the martyrs of the Bab al-Saba’a neighbourhood. They had died after regime forces fired live bullets at the demonstrations. I went along.

Women take part in a demonstration calling on Syrian factions to unite. (Photo: Mujahid Abu al-Joud)
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IWPR Hosts Syrian Women for Netherlands Tour

Thu, 25 May 2017 12:04:48 +0100

A rare opportunity to hear first-hand stories of life inside the conflict.

IWPR is to bring female Syrian journalists and activists to the Netherlands to share their experiences of war with a wider audience.

The tour, made possible with funding from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will also include screenings of five short films made by Syrians on subjects including the siege of Aleppo, the war’s effect on youth, and the defection of a senior Islamic State official.

IWPR’s Syria coordinator Zaina Erhaim will lead the delegation, which includes trainers and contributors to IWPR’s Arabic-English Syria Stories, (syriastories.net) a platform for citizen journalists to share articles on life in Syria with both a domestic and international audience.

Thanaa Jebbi. (Photo courtesy of T. Jebbi)
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A Sad Homecoming

Sat, 20 May 2017 00:00:00 +0100

When the people have left, only death and destruction remain.

On November 14, 2016, my father and I went to visit our hometown of Taybat al-Imam after the opposition forces finally took control of it. We had been away for three years.

When we arrived, I was surprised by the destruction of homes, schools and public buildings alike. We didn’t visit what remained of our house. It had been one of the first to be destroyed.

As we walked slowly through the town, the air raid wardens announced the presence of Russian aircraft in the sky.

My father and I ran to hide in the basement of a mosque and when we entered we heard the sound of a small child crying. She was with her parents and elder sister, cradled in her mother’s lap crying and saying “I don’t want to die!” as if she was an adult who knew everything about death.

Private transportation for a whole family in the al-Maadi neighbourhood of Aleppo. (Photo: Salah al-Ashqar)
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IWPR Hosts Syrian Women on Landmark US Tour

Thu, 11 May 2017 10:46:43 +0100

A rare opportunity to hear perspectives which remain largely uncovered.

Syrian female journalists and civil society activists briefed US policymakers and journalists on their wartime experiences during a week-long tour organised by IWPR.

L to R: Noha Alkamcha, Zaina Erhaim, Charlie Rose, Yasmin Kayali Sabra and Anthony Borden.
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No Happy Endings

Wed, 10 May 2017 00:00:00 +0100

Will my sad neighbour ever get to hold her children again?

When I moved into my new home, my neighbour Hamsa, 26, came to visit. She told me the story of her life and I listened patiently to her tale of suffering.

After Hamsa failed her exams in the third grade, a young man named Amer proposed to her. Her family agreed and they got married six months later.

Amer had a job in a local concrete factory and the couple rented a small house. They had a simple life. Hamsa became pregnant with her first child and gave birth to a girl on January 28, 2010. She named her daughter Rayan. Then she gave birth to her second daughter, Rajaa, on March 20, 2011.

After the revolution began, their situation began to deteriorate. The concrete factory closed down, so they were forced to leave their home and move to Amer’s parents house.

Women learn how to read and write in a literacy course in Idlib's countryside. (Photo: IWPR)
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