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Damascus

‘Thank God, the nightmare is over’: A Syrian returns home to Damascus to witness celebration and struggle

Syria

Amr al-Azm, an archaeologist and former professor at Damascus University, left Syria with his family in 2006. He recently returned to witness firsthand the celebrations and struggles that followed the abrupt departure of longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad. The World’s Carolyn Beeler speaks with Azm about what it’s been like to return.

Syrian prison offers a glimpse into Assad’s brutal rule

Syria

US authorities arrest a former Syrian official in Los Angeles

Conflict & Justice
A man walks next to heavily damaged buildings and destroyed cars following Russian attacks in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, May 24, 2022.

Ukrainian doctors train for the possibility of a chemical attack from Russia

Ukraine
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad heads a cabinet meeting, in Damascus, Syria

Report: Syrian government manipulates exchange rates to pocket aid money

Economics
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A Syrian grocery shop in Istanbul sells brands that are familiar to Syrian customers, such as canned meats and condensed milk.

Syrian refugees and migrants in Turkey face a difficult decision to return home 

Migration

Millions of Syrians are wrestling with the tough choice to return to Syria after 10 years of civil war. In Turkey, the COVID-19 pandemic hit some Syrians so hard that they returned home, only to regret it.

A group of people protest and carry a heart-shaped sign that says "Refugees welcome here."

Denmark revokes residency permits of some Syrian refugees

Migration

Under a new policy that deems certain parts of Syria safe to return, some Syrian refugees now face deportation and, in some cases, family separations. The European Union, the United States and numerous human rights groups have condemned the decision. 

Several people are shown preparing meals next to a large pile of rubble and a line of water bottles.

Busy Damascus cemetery points to higher pandemic death toll in Syria

COVID-19

The sprawling Najha cemetery outside Damascus, resting place for thousands of dead from Syria’s wars, is struggling to cope with a surge in victims from the country’s latest conflict — the largely unacknowledged battle with COVID-19.

Dr. Amani Ballour treats an injured baby in Feras Fayyad’s documentary “The Cave.”

This doctor treated hundreds in an underground hospital in Syria known as ‘The Cave’

Faced with casualties from frequent airstrikes as Syrian forces laid siege to Eastern Ghouta, an area in the suburbs of Damascus, Dr. Amani Ballour helped set up an underground hospital.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

Baghdadi’s death is a huge blow to ISIS, but history suggests it won’t guarantee a safer world

Common sense would suggest the world is indeed now a much safer place with ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s passing. Unfortunately, however, there is no guarantee this will prove to be true in practice. 

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