Opening the Weapons Tap: Syria’s Rebels Await Fresh and Free Ammo
It’s an open secret along the Turkey-Syria border. For weeks, Syrian rebel commanders from key units operating in northern Syria and further south have been waiting for a second major batch of new...
View ArticleIn Syria, Rebels Celebrate Stunning Assassinations–and Send More Forces to...
A TIME reporter was in Syria’s restive Idlib province when news broke that Defense Minister Daoud Rajiha and deputy army chief, Assef Shawkat — who is also President Bashar Assad’s brother-in-law — had...
View ArticleOn Triumphant Day for Syrian Rebels, Tragedy in One Small Town
Abdel-ilah, the painter, was hysterical. He fell to his knees in front of a small base of rebel fighters, and unfurled the small blood-covered white blanket with pale blue stripes he was carrying....
View ArticleThe Syrian Army Strikes Back: Eyewitness to Assad’s Retaliation on a Rebel Town
Saraqeb rejoiced when the heart of the regime was struck. Then the President's soldiers hit back
View ArticleIn Rebel Syria: Celebrating Assad’s Departure–Even Though He’s Still Staying
The news flashed across television screens in the town of Saraqeb shortly before midday on Friday, declaring that Syrian President Bashar Assad was ready to leave power “in an orderly way,” according...
View ArticleA Dispatch from ‘Free’ Syria: How to Run a Liberated Town
Saraqeb is still at the mercy of the tanks of President Bashar Assad, just as it has been for about a year. The military invaded during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan in 2011. It re-entered on March...
View ArticleTIME Exclusive: Meet the Islamist Militants Fighting Alongside Syria’s Rebels
The al-Qaeda flag was propped up in a barrel painted with the three-starred Syrian revolutionary banner in the middle of the road at a makeshift checkpoint between the northern Syrian towns of Binnish...
View ArticleGoing Rogue: Bandits and Criminal Gangs Threaten Syria’s Rebellion
The checkpoint wasn’t a permanent or even makeshift structure—just a couple of armed men, some in civilian clothing, others wearing items of military apparel, standing in the middle of a main road just...
View ArticleSyria’s Prime Minister Defects: More Erosion in the Assad Regime
By joining the rebels, Riad Hijab doesn't quite debilitate the government of President Assad. He does, however, further humiliate it and thin the ranks of bureaucrats it can count on
View ArticleThe Making of a Syrian Rebel: The Saga of Abboud Barri
Abboud Barri jiggles the dog tags as if they belonged to animals being raised in a puppy mill. “I have a lot of these,” Barri says. “Any buyers?” He is joking. The tags belong to human beings, soldiers...
View ArticleSyria’s Secular and Islamist Rebels: Who Are the Saudis and the Qataris Arming?
Vast swaths of northern Syria, especially in the province of Idlib, have slipped out of the hands of President Bashar Assad, if not quite out of his reach. The area is now a de facto liberated zone,...
View ArticleThe Damascus Double Bombing: Is the Syrian Capital Back in Play?
With Aleppo still being battled over, the rebels may just be signaling to Assad that he is well within their sights
View ArticleTurkey Retaliates Against Syria: How It May Give Rebel Soldiers Cover to Expand
It was not the first time Syria artillery has hit the Turkish town of Akcakale. But this time Ankara struck back—and the attendant show of force may just give the enemies of Bashar Assad a chance to...
View ArticleSyria’s Up-and-Coming Rebels: Who Are the Farouq Brigades?
The four men had journeyed for seven hours by bus from the southern Turkish city of Antakya for a meeting they considered crucial. It was about to take place on the patio of a three-star hotel in the...
View ArticleWho Will the Tribes Back in Syria’s Civil War?
Tribes dominate the rich agricultural belt that is now a huge prize in the battle for Syria. Can they affect the tide of battle?
View ArticleSyria’s Tribes Will Rise Again: An Exiled Chief Remains Unbowed
The leader of the 1.2 million strong Baggara believes in an eventual resurgence despite the Assad regime’s systematic destruction of the underpinnings of tribal society
View ArticleLebanon’s Bad Habit: Staring into the Abyss Too Often
Lebanon has seen bad days before. And while the bombing in Beirut on Friday takes place in the context of a changing Middle East — and a chaotic neighboring Syria — it may still be the kind of abysmal...
View ArticleAleppo’s Deadly Stalemate: A Visit to Syria’s Divided Metropolis
Only stray cats have the courage to roam the streets of this part of Syria’s largest city. As felines freely pick their way through rubble and garbage, human beings dart from corner to corner, anxious...
View ArticleThe Confessions of a Sniper: A Rebel Gunman in Aleppo and His Conscience
To the other men in his Free Syrian Army unit, he’s simply known as the Sniper, a 21-year-old army-trained sharpshooter who defected on Feb. 21 and joined their ranks. Few of his colleagues know his...
View ArticleInterview with Official of Jabhat al-Nusra, Syria’s Islamist Militia Group
Abu Adnan smirked from behind his black balaclava, his auburn whiskers peeking through the fabric as the corners of his mouth rose. A religious scholar and Shari‘a law official in Jabhat al-Nusra’s...
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