Look back and learn: Safe zones in Iraq and Bosnia

15 March 2016

A long-standing Turkish proposal to create a so-called safe zone inside Syria has received an apparent endorsement from European leaders, but do safe zones actually work?

Opinion

Europe doesn't have a migrant crisis
2 September 2015
Imagine Syria didn't exist - that the war never happened. Suddenly Europe’s migration crisis doesn't look so bad. The two EU countries that receive the...
Feature

Ten days in Damascus
6 December 2012
IRIN reporter Heba Aly recently travelled to the Syrian capital, Damascus, to report on the humanitarian impact of nearly two years of conflict in the...
Analysis

Sieges in Syria: what to know
12 January 2016
At precisely the same time as aid lorries pulled into the besieged Syrian village of Madaya on Monday, too late to save those who had...
Analysis

The long way round
9 November 2015
As other options narrow, a small but growing number of Syrians are attempting a new and circuitous route to Europe: flying more than 3,000 miles...
Feature

Behind the scenes at Za'atari camp
9 July 2013
"This was a bad week," says Kilian Kleinschmidt, as he begins a weekly camp management meeting at the world's largest camp for Syrian refugees. No...
Feature

Slideshow: Humans of Syria
28 September 2015
Objects of pity or attractive prospective employees? The Syrians landing on the beaches on the Greek island of Lesvos have some serious CVs. IRIN aid...
Analysis

No welcome mat for Syrians in Europe
25 September 2013
The human exodus from Syria started with a trickle in the latter half of 2011 that became a steady stream in 2012, and turned into...
Analysis

Aid to Syrians: how far does it go?
25 November 2015
Struggling to find work and receiving little aid, many of Lebanon's 1.1 million Syrian refugees are barely getting by. An estimated 90 percent are in...
Analysis

Two migrant journeys. One dream.
18 June 2015
Of the two, Jad never wanted to leave – Syria was home, and he liked it. His friend Hassan* had been angling for a move...
Feature

Syria Diary: Beggar at the door
19 November 2013
The writer is a recent graduate of the University of Damascus from a well-to-do family belonging to a Syrian minority. For security reasons, he prefers...
Analysis

Analysis: Syrian rebels and IHL
13 May 2013
Syrian rebels facing increasing criticism for violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) and human rights law turn for guidance on the laws of war to...
Analysis

Counting under fire: Syria's casualties
27 October 2015
Counting the dead in a warzone as complex as Syria is so challenging that the UN abandoned the task in early 2014, saying it could...
Analysis

A “new humanitarianism” at play in Syrian crisis
30 March 2012
In a trendy coffee shop in the Jordanian capital, Amman, 20- and 30-somethings smoking sheesha pipes are playing the role of international aid agencies from...
Feature

Overnight in Jordan’s Za’atari camp
20 June 2013
It is 9pm. The front entrance to Za’atari is lit mostly by the red and blue lights of the Jordanian gendarmerie vehicles parked at the...
News

Map of countries' fair share for Syria
31 March 2015
As delegates meet in Kuwait to pledge financial support for Syria's four year-old crisis, one NGO has been asking which rich countries have been giving...
Feature

UAE’s five-star refugee camp in Jordan
29 October 2013
Under the glare of the midday sun, the neatly-arranged caravans gleam a bright white against the dusty desert terrain, their short symmetrical shadows disturbed only...
Feature

A tale of two Za’ataris
26 July 2013
Just on the other side of Jordan’s Za’atari camp for Syrian refugees, now one of the world’s most notorious camps , lies another Za’atari: a...
Analysis

The beginnings of transitional justice in Syria
14 December 2012
Syrian activists are putting their lives at risk to gather forensic evidence of potential war crimes for the first time in the midst of an...
Analysis

Can airdrops save starving Syrians?
27 January 2016
Between 400,000 and two million Syrians (depending on who’s counting) are living under siege. Madaya forced their plight onto the international stage. Since then, voices...

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