12/1/13, 10:46 PMSyria Deeply: Women and Children, Su! ering in the Spotlight

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Dear Deeply Readers,

It’s been an eventful week in and around Syria. The regime has been taking back bits of 

terrain, including the strategic town of Qalamoun. Where the regime isn’t in control – in the

northern parts of the country – al-Qaida is gaining ground and growing more influential.

This week seven major Islamist groups united to form the Islamic Front, an anti-

democracy camp, calling for religious rule over Syria. Meanwhile the “moderate” rebels

are losing steam and their revolutionary cause is fading in appeal – enough opposition

leaders have proven to be corrupt and ineffectual that they now provoke disillusionment,

even disgust.

 

In diplomatic developments, Geneva II peace talks are now set for Jan. 22, theoretically

convening the regime and the rebels at the negotiating table (though there are tough open

questions about who gets to attend, i.e., which parties can credibly represent the

opposition and whether Iran will be invited in the mix). The U.S. has offered to destroy

Syria’s chemical weapons at sea, while overall in Syria U.S. influence is fading.

 

There’s no clear consensus on whether  the Iran nuclear deal will help foster a Syrian

peace. It does reorder regional politics in ways that shift Turkey’s position on Syria, at a

time when Qatar’s foreign policy is also taking a softer stance (Turkey and Qatar had

previously been staunch backers of the opposition).

 

Even with the flurry of geopolitical news, Syria’s women and children still managed to

make it into the headlines through a series of reports chronicling their suffering and

exploitation. One European human-rights group found that more than 6,000 women have

been raped, and others targeted by snipers and used as human shields. Children, who

make up more than half of Syrian refugees, have been left destitute and without schooling,

as UNHCR shows in a new multimedia report. Some children have become the family

breadwinners, harvesting crops, working in restaurants or sifting through trash for 

aluminum cans.

 

Their lives are intertwined with the fighters clashing on the battlefield and the politicians

 

12/1/13, 10:46 PMSyria Deeply: Women and Children, Su! ering in the Spotlight

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dueling in the court of public opinion. The longer the war drags on, the deeper Syria’s

women and children fall into an abyss, away from any “normal” life they had hoped to

recover.

Highlights from Syria Deeply:

Is Malnutrition Syria’s Next Epidemic?

Conversations: Baking by Night in Deir Ezzor 

In Hama, a Paramedic Turned Paraplegic

Rebel-Held Raqqa Sees Electricity Cut, in a Patchwork of Public Services

With Two Sons in the Army, Saying a Prayer for Assad

 After Four Brits Die in Syria, Questions About Impact of the ‘Western Jihad’ 

How Syria’s New Islamic Front Could Change the Game

 

Reads from the Week: 

Daily Beast: The Little Syrian Girl with a Bullet in Her Head

BuzzFeed: Inside Syria: Al-Qaida Was Here

Telegraph: What Every Jihadi in Syria Needs: Hair Gel, an iPad and Kit-Kats

 AP: Syria Says It Won’t Relinquish Power in Peace Talks

CBS: Childhood Lost to Syria’s War 

Daily Beast: How I Escaped Assad’s Army in Syria

We’re fielding your feedback on how to better serve you and cover the story. You can

reach our team on email at info@syriadeeply.org.

Sincerely,

The News Deeply Team

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