Deborah Amos

Syrians Bused To Jordanian Refugee Camps

Deborah Amos — Mon, 06 May 2013 09:11:00 +0000

Transcript

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Syria has accused Israel of flagrantly violating international law after a series of airstrikes on targets near the Syrian capital over the weekend. Now, Israel has not officially accepted responsibility, but Israeli sources say the targets included Iranian-made missiles bound for Hezbollah fighters in neighboring Lebanon.

As the civil war rages on inside Syria, the rebels trying to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad have made significant gains in the southern part of the country.

Sea Of Syrian Refugees Threatens To Overload Jordan

Deborah Amos — Thu, 02 May 2013 20:18:00 +0000

Jordan's fastest-growing city lies in the middle of the desert, where the sand is so white that from a distance it looks like snow. There's little running water and not much electricity.

The name of this place? The Zaatari refugee camp, home to more than 100,000 Syrian refugees.

"This is a city — not one that anybody would want to create if they had a choice," says Caroline Gluck of Oxfam, one of the aid agencies working in the Zaatari camp.

'It's Not Normal': Syrian War Transforms Lives

Deborah Amos — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 19:22:00 +0000

In November, Razan Shalab Al-Sham, the daughter of a wealthy Syrian family, led the way to the Syrian farming village of Khirbet al-Joz to deliver an unusual kind of aid: police uniforms. A cold winter rain turned the frontier forest between southern Turkey and Syria into a muddy march up a mountain ridge along a smugglers' trail. She climbed the mountain to make the delivery herself.

Delivering police uniforms was a critical mission for Al-Sham— a symbol of what she wants Syria to become: a democratic country, with a civilian police force.

Courts Become A Battleground For Secularists, Islamists In Syria

Deborah Amos — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 21:27:00 +0000

In rebel-held parts of Syria, a clash of ideologies is playing out. Powerful Islamist brigades are competing with pro-democracy civilians to shape Syria's future.

One battlefront is in the courts. In many areas in northern Syria, Islamists have set up religious courts that deliver rulings under Shariah, or Islamic law — a fundamental change in Syria's civil legal system.

This is evident on a recent day in a courtroom in the northern Syrian city of Azaz.

In the courthouse, a judge and two lawyers preside over a civil case. It's a commercial dispute over a carload of cigarettes.

Syrian Cyber-Rebel Wages War, One Hack At A Time

Deborah Amos — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 08:28:00 +0000

The Internet is a battleground in Syria, a place where President Bashar Assad's regime has mounted a sophisticated surveillance campaign that includes monitoring and arresting activists by tracking their Facebook pages.

The Syrian Electronic Army, an arm of the Syrian military, is in charge of the monitoring.

But online rebels have mounted a counteroffensive.