In October 2011, Syrian entrepreneur Mohaned Ghashim made one of the most difficult decisions of his life. For years, he had run two flourishing businesses in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city and business hub. One of his enterprises was an online tenders portal for the Syrian market; the other was an e-commerce agency. He supervised a…
GAZIANTEP, Turkey — In a provincial town previously known for its nuts, Byzantine fortress, and Ottoman souk, shiny trailers now nestle among the pistachio groves. Smugglers, businessmen, Western aid workers, and Turkish police greet each other with warm familiarity. Hundreds of trucks loaded with food baskets, tents, and other essentials hurtle out of town every…
IT REPRESENTS the greatest humanitarian challenge of our time. Five years of intense fighting has plunged a once vibrant country into darkness. The destruction and despair wrought by the Syrian Civil War has caused a “systematic” obliteration of infrastructure and population. Such is the backward direction of the country, that from 2010 to 2015, the…
When the border crossings between Turkey and Syria first began to fall into the hands of groups fighting against President Bashar al-Assad in 2012, opposition leaders began to feel that Syria was heading for a transition. As a result, the Syrian Center for Political and Strategic Studies hosted a conference entitled “Managing the Transition in…
The demand for a decent education for Syria’s refugee children is almost overwhelming. In the camp Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith visited, the only classroom is packed and the heat is suffocating. This camp is home to over 2,000 children – all victims of the Syrian unrest. Syrian caricaturist Juan Zero, a displaced person himself, is…
ISTANBUL: A former agriculture minister and an economist are leading candidates to be named Syria’s first opposition prime minister when the opposition Syrian National Coalition meets to vote in Turkey this week. The two men are among around 10 opposition figures Coalition members are expected to consider during their gathering in Istanbul on March 18…
In October 2011, Syrian entrepreneur Mohaned Ghashim made one of the most difficult decisions of his life. For years, he had run two flourishing businesses in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city and business hub. One of his enterprises was an online tenders portal for the Syrian market; the other was an e-commerce agency. He supervised a…
GAZIANTEP, Turkey — On the banquet hall stage, a young girl with a Syrian opposition flag painted on her left cheek sang antigovernment songs, a sort of greatest hits of the Syrian revolution. Behind her, several men with their arms slung over one another’s shoulders danced in rhythm. But few others at the election conference…
