SYRIA ARCHIVE
Foreign Policy: "Making Peace With Assad’s State Of Barbarism"
July 14, 2017
As Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron signal they're not after regime change in Damascus, both leaders should remember there's a price to keeping Assad in power.
PRI's The World: "Having Grown Up In A War Zone, This Reporter Sees the Syrian War Differently"
November 4, 2015
I aim to let Americans and Europeans know that the war isn't happening to people they don't have anything in common with.
Foreign Policy: "The Sad Fading Away Of The Refugee Crisis Story"
October 15, 2015
What new horror must we see — after the trauma and destruction so well documented over the past four years — to capture the world’s attention and finally end this war in Syria?
BBC News: "Syria Civil War: Is It Too Late for a Peace Deal?"
March 17, 2015
On the fourth anniversary of the Syrian civil war, controversial comments by US Secretary of State John Kerry have put the focus back on Washington's lack of a clear strategy.
BBC News: "Syrian Torture: Will Photos Turn U.S. Opinion?"
January 27, 2015
While the world's attention is focused on the atrocities committed by the so-called Islamic State (IS), Syrians worry the suffering caused by their own government has been forgotten. The State Department is helping to build a case for war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Assad government and says pictures are key evidence, but the wheels of international justice turn slowly.
BBC News: "Syrians Ponder Country's Future"
January 19, 2006
I reported on the three different trends within Syria that could bring change to the country: the secular opposition, the Islamists, and privileged, modern elite. President Assad was working hard to stay on top.
BBC News: "Syrian Government Crackdown on Dissent"
In 2006, I reported on civil dissidents in Syria and their efforts to bring change to their country. Anwar el Bunni, the lawyer featured in this piece, was eventually released from prison, jailed again after the start of the uprising in 2011, released again and stood fast in Damascus until he felt he gave up hope. He is now in exile in Europe.
BBC News: "Syria Experiences Islamist Revival"
February 22, 2006
The rise of Islam under the secular ruling Baath party and the Islamists that the state created. An interesting read in light of today’s events in Syria.
Related: "Rise of Militant Islam in Syria"
The audio version includes our trip to the border with Iraq. Even as the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was underway, President Assad’s government encouraged and facilitated the travel of jihadis across the border to Iraq to join the battle against U.S. soldiers. This continued for years.
BBC News: "Sounds of Aleppo in 2004"
I recorded these bits for a report I did in 2004 on the musician Julien Jalaleddine Weiss who loved Aleppo and set up the musical ensemble al Kindi. Julien died in 2015, of cancer and of sadness, separated from his beloved Aleppo and his beautiful home because of the conflict.
The second part I recorded inside a Sufi zawiya, a lodge, where the men engage in repetitive chanting as part of spiritual ceremony, known as dhikr, leading to a trance. The ritual helps the devotees overcome the self and become closer to God.