"Each civilized person in the world should admit that he has two home countries: the one he was born in, and Syria."
– André Parrot, (1901 – 1980), archaeologist specializing in the ancient Near East; director of The Louvre
“Had Syria not assumed pariah status in the eyes of some, the Grand Colonnade of Apamea would be considered among the ‘100...
by Leslie Hemphill
“You are welcome”, or “You are family” were words we heard so often in Syria when we travelled with daughter-in-law Ghada on three visits to stay with her parents and family in Damascus.
Ghada was one of six children raised in a little house - really a two-storey apartment. It was possible to climb out a window onto...
Part 2: Tima Kurdi, author of ‘The Boy On The Beach’ (Simon & Schuster, 2018), speaks to Sarah Nachar and Susan Dirgham about:
Women in Syria
COVID-19 and Sanctions on Syria
Syria - Our Good-Hearted Mother
Women In Syria Today
Tima describes the dramatic changes that have taken place since she grew up in Syria, when women mainly stayed at home...
Written by Chris Ray, this article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on Jan 25, 2020 as "Ode to Damascus".
It may seem like an unlikely holiday destination, but as peace returns to Syria, the struggling nation hopes tourists will too. By Chris Ray
Tourism in Damascus, Syria
Nour Neema at the Sah al-Naum hotel, which...
Written by Jack Bettar
Spread across fertile mountains, between olive and pistachio groves, and across windswept limestone hills, sits an assortment of ancient ruins, some mysterious, but all precious not just to Syria’s history but to the history of humankind in general.
In the Aleppo and Idlib governorates (provinces), there can be found unique and rare insights into life more than...
This video interview with Professor Maamoun Abdulkarim took place in a Damascus cafe on 22 September 2019. It wasn't the best environment to discuss a serious subject, and I had no external microphone for my mobile phone, but we made do.
Susan Dirgham
(For a transcript of the interview, please go to the bottom of this page.*)
During the worst years of...
- from TravelTalesVideos
"Lose yourself in the labyrinth of bustling passageways. Chat with the merchants and locals ~ memories you won't soon forget."
Old Aleppo, Syria is walkable, facinating and for many a most memorable experience. Through videos and images Travel Tales gives you a tatalizing peek at Old Aleppo.
Written by Chris Ray, this article was first published by Monthly Review Online, 10 January 2020
Sanctioning Syria
By Chris Ray
The United Nations was willing to pay for doors, windows and electrical wiring in Alaa Dahood’s apartment but not for repairs to her living room wall torn open by a mortar strike. That was deemed to be ‘reconstruction’—an aid category forbidden...
14 October 2019
Last month, I was in Damascus for just 8 full days. I had a journalist's visa which ensured I had the chance to interview some distinguished Syrians as well as some 'ordinary' Syrians, all of them impressive people, and most of them women.
Most evident was the fact that the war has led to women in Syria finding...
Published by Beloved Syria with the permission of the author.
'A Child in Damascus' was first published in SYRIA through writers' eyes, Edited by Marius Kociejowski (Eland Publishing Ltd, 2010)
A Child in Damascus
by Josceline Dimbleby
...years later I understood the saying that once you have lived in Damascus, it lives in you
In the early summer of 1950, aged seven, I arrived...
