“Big businesses are closing and the problems we are facing only young people can solve…The need for startups and entrepreneurship culture is really essential for Syria.” Leen Darwish. Read about her coding app Remmaz here.

More Youth Voices

Faia Younan. Photo: EPA.

“I sing songs that are not primarily about the war itself, but somehow deal with its existence…For example, I have recently sung a song about a mother humming her child to sleep not knowing if the next day was going to be a good day or not, if her child was going to survive or not…So she sings: ‘Sleep my little bird, tomorrow everything will be better’. It is a bittersweet song, but it doesn’t deal with the war explicitly.” Aleppo Native Faia Younan.

Hajar’s story. Hajar lost her mother and three sisters, Noura, Mouna and Aysha in an April airstrike

International and Diaspora Voices

Amnesty International  issued a new report –Torture was my punishment-Abducation, Torture and Summary Killings under Armed Group Rule in Aleppo and Idleb, Syria.

“I witnessed the summary killing of two captured shabiha fighters by the al-Shamia Front in front of al-Shifa hospital in Aleppo city on two separate dates in 2015. The al-Shamia Front announced the execution publicly and then shot them with a rifle. They left the bodies for a few hours on the street for people to see.” Aleppo city resident

Tamador and her sons arrive in Toronto. Photo: Liz Beddall/Metro

One refugee family’s long journey from Aleppo to Markham.

Levent Topçu works to improve lives for Syrian refugees.

Dr. Sahloul. Photo: SAMS.

Dr. Zaher Sahloul traveled with the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) from Chicago for his fifth medical mission to Aleppo. He stayed “at a hospital that was bombed several times and the people … built it underground for protection.” Listen to him explain how the city has changed over the past 18 months here.

OXFAM America highlighted the important role Syria’s diaspora places in humanitarian relief efforts and planning for the future.

Palmyra. Photo: UNESCO.

Two UN agencies have joined forces to protect heritage sites using satellite imagery. UNOSAT released a new report with satellite imagery illustrating damage to cultural heritage sites, including Palmyra and Old Aleppo.

Aleppo, 2016. Photo: Rami Jarrah.

The IMF released a Working Paper on Syria’s war economy. Its key messages are: (1) Syria’s GDP is less than half of pre-war levels and could take two decades or more to recover; and that (2) rebuilding Syria’s human and social capital will be a larger challenge than rebuilding its physical infrastructure.