This week marks two years since thousands of civilians and rebel fighters were displaced from Syria’s Eastern Ghouta. A writer based there at the time profiles one fighter, and how he chose between leaving his hometown and staying under Assad’s ruthless rule.
From besieged Douma, the last remaining pocket of opposition-held Eastern Ghouta, Osama Nassar reflects on the fate awaiting him and his fellow residents as Russia and the Assad regime impose their “settlement” on the region’s starved and battered population.
Syrian writer and civil society activist Marcell Shehwaro adds an exile’s perspective to Osama Nassar’s recent article comparing siege and imprisonment.
Since the truce in Barzeh came into effect in early 2014, the population of the area has been in constant increase, and the regime checkpoints have turned into crossings for trades in different commodities.
