Syria Notes

For the most recent issues, visit the Syria Notes website.

Below are PDF links to the first 22 issues of Syria Notes published by the Secretariat of the All-Party Parliamentary Group Friends of Syria.

Printing of Syria Notes has been funded by Lush Charity Pot.

Some earlier issues of Syria Notes received funding from The Syria Campaign, as noted on their front pages.

A number of articles from Syria Notes have also appeared on the Little Atoms website.


Syria Notes No. 22: 28 March 2018 – view and download PDF
  • The non-implementation of Security Council Resolution 2401
    Syria Notes summary
  • Russian air force implicated in string of hospital bombings
    The Syrian Archive, Syrians for Truth and Justice, and Bellingcat
  • Aircraft tracking
    Parliamentary Written Questions on tracking, accountability, and early warning
  • Activists and feminists battle, and we all lose
    Zaina Erhaim
  • UN Commission recommends actions on Syria detainees
    Syria Notes summary
  • Coming home to a death in prison
    Syria Notes summary


Syria Notes No. 21: 6 February 2018 – view and download PDF
  • The worst is yet to come for civilians in Syria
    Naomi Kikoler
  • A constant stream of hospital attacks
    Samples of recent reports and images
  • Meeting ‘Caesar’
    ‘Caesar’, Sami, and Ibrahim El Kasem of the Caesar Files Group
  • The Syrian refugees who want to go home
    Sally Hayden and Ziad Ghandour


Syria Notes No. 20: 15 January 2018 – view and download PDF
  • Dividing Idlib
    Syria Notes staff
  • Between Assad and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham
    Reports from Syrians for Truth and Justice
  • Eleven medical facilities attacked in ten days
    Union of Medical Care and Relief Organisations
  • Under siege: Humanitarian access in Syria
    Paul Musiol, Emanuela-Chiara Gillard, and Emma Beals


Syria Notes No. 19: 12 December 2017 – view and download PDF
  • De-escalation zones targeted with barrel bombs, cluster bombs, and IEDs
    Syria Notes staff
  • Syrian refugees trapped in a no man’s land
    Sara Kayyali
  • Syrian media on the Ghouta siege
    Amr Salahi
  • A medical disaster
    Waleed Khaled a-Noufal, Madeline Edwards, Omar Al-Balkhi, and Ala’a Mekawe
  • Protest in Aleppo over BBC report
    Syria Notes staff


Syria Notes No. 18: 14 November 2017 – view and download PDF
  • Call for an end to the siege rather than piecemeal aid
    Abdalmalik Abod
  • Exile or death: Assad’s campaign against East Ghouta
    Syria Notes staff
  • Raqqa and beyond: The fight against ISIS and its aftermath
    Kinda Haddad, Ikbal Ben Gaied Hassine, and Rana Khalaf


Syria Notes No. 17: 24 October 2017 – view and download PDF
  • What next for Raqqa?
    Nadim Houry
  • Hundreds of families flee battle for Syria’s oil-rich east
    Bahira al-Zarier, Mohammed Al-Haj Ali, Madeline Edwards
  • Deir Ezzor: A legacy of marginalisation and suffering
    Karam Alhamad
  • Families for Freedom bring their stories to Parliament
    Amina, Noura, and Ghada
  • A message from the women of Idlib
    Via Women Now For Development


Syria Notes No. 16: 9 October 2017 – view and download PDF
  • Amnesty for fighters, detention for my peaceful husband
    Naseem Al Sham
  • Syria’s secret police: the Mukhabarat
    Brian Slocock
  • Lebanon: Who’s the boss?
    Fidaa Itani
  • Nowhere left to run for 12,000 refugees facing eviction
    Charlotte Alfred and Abby Sewell
  • The true cost of the Coalition’s war against ISIS in Syria
    Kinda Haddad


Syria Notes No. 15: 11 September 2017 – view and download PDF
  • Civil society between jihadists and Assad
    APPG staff
  • Two Syrian women
    Thanaa Jabi and Nora al-Shaalan
  • Saraqib’s local elections show democracy can break through
    Manhal Bareesh
  • HTS storms Idlib City Council
    Noura Hourani and Avery Edelman
  • The role of jihadi movements in Syrian local governance
    Ayman Al Dassouky


Syria Notes No. 14: 10 March 2017 – view and download PDF
  • Is UK military action helping Assad, Hezbollah, and Russia?
    APPG staff
  • Kingdom of horror, Assad’s Syria
    Ahmad Khanshour
  • Justice in Spain for Assad’s victims?
    Guernica 37 International Justice Chambers
  • Idlib Province: Waiting for disaster?
    Amr Salahi
  • Analysis shows bias in BBC reporting of the Syrian conflict
    Yasmine Nahlawi
  • Should the UK Government publish evidence of war crimes?
    APPG staff


Syria Notes No. 13: 31 January 2017 – view and download PDF
  • Can drones break the sieges?
    Airbridge Aviation
  • Wadi Barada: Rebels and families removed
    Reports from Syria Direct via Scott Lucas
  • Eastern Ghouta, what is next?
    Ahmad Khanshour
  • Trump, and Obama
    Kenan Rahmani
  • The World Health Organisation, polio, and the Assad regime
    Annie Sparrow
  • We call on the UK to welcome refugees banned by Trump
    Rethink Rebuild Society


Syria Notes No. 12: 13 January 2017 – view and download PDF
  • Can JPADS save lives in Syria?
    How remote controlled parachutes can be flown across Lebanon’s border to besieged areas
  • News digest: After Aleppo
    Reports on where the Assad regime and its allies Hezbollah and Russia are turning next
  • How Ceasefires in Syria Became Another Tool of Warfare
    Lina Khatib
  • On the Russian video of a detained rescue volunteer
    Syria Civil Defence
  • Hezbollah is the real winner of the battle of Aleppo
    Sulome Anderson
  • No future in Lebanon, and little hope of a return to Syria
    Interviews with Syrian refugees
  • What is being destroyed today
    Robin Yassin-Kassab
  • A peace delegation’s denials
    Ivana Bacik
  • Last chance saloon for Syria’s rebels
    Haid Haid
  • On training Syrian rebels to fight Daesh
    Yasmine Nahlawi


Syria Notes No. 11: 22 November 2016 – view and download PDF
  • Aleppo: 250,000 could die
    Laila Maher Soudi, Raed Saleh, and Ahmad Tarakji
  • One week’s targets: Hospitals, rescuers, schools
    Reports from Syria Civil Defence and the Syrian Network for Human Rights
  • UK should emulate US Caesar Bill
    Yasmine Nahlawi
  • About the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act
    Brittany Keroack
  • Airdrop aid for the city of Aleppo
    Council of Free Aleppo Governorate


Syria Notes on Detainees, special issue, 27 April 2016 – View and download PDF
  • Featuring letters from detainees via the Save The Rest campaign.


Syria Notes No. 10: 17 May 2016 – view and download PDF
  • Messages from Daraya Council
    Daraya Council calls on the UK for humanitarian air drops
  • The UN and ICRC’s deadly mistakes
    Mansour Omari
  • About Daraya Council
    Background on the Local Council of Daraya City
  • The rise of Syria’s local councils
    Robin Yassin-Kassab and Leila Al-Shami
  • An Afghan migrant in Iran tells of his time as a fighter in Syria
    Kobra Akbari
  • Iranian losses in Syria
    From EA WorldView’s Iran Daily blog
  • A failing peace process benefits Jabhat Al Nusra
    Hassan Hassan
  • Killings back to same pace as before the ceasefire
    Syrian Network for Human Rights


Syria Notes No. 9: 27 April 2016 – view and download PDF
  • Breakdown
    Statements by Gareth Bayley, FCO; Salem al Meslet, HNC; Syrian Civil Defence; Human Rights Watch
  • Doctors: Air drops to all besieged areas are urgently needed
    UOSSM, Union of Medical Care and Relief Organisations
  • Letters from inside Syrian prisons
    via the Save the Rest campaign
  • Besieged, exiled, abandoned.
    Reports from Syria Direct
  • The latest civilian fatalities
    Violations Documentation Center in Syria


Syria Notes No. 8: 13 April 2016 – view and download PDF
  • Daraya needs air drops
    Glenys Kinnock
  • We are on the verge of witnessing deaths from starvation
    A letter from women in Daraya
  • “The Royal Air Force are probably the leaders in this capability.”
    Hamish de Bretton-Gordon on air drops, and on protecting hospitals
  • “So why do you keep dropping barrel bombs on us?”
    Motaz Morad in besieged Daraya
  • On the Fifth Anniversary
    Dr Sharif K al-Ghazal, Yasmine Nahlawi,
    Dr Peshang Abdulhannan, Dr Mohammad Tammo
  • Monitoring the Cessation of Hostilities
    Reports from SNHR, MSF, and UN


Syria Notes No. 7: 8 March 2016 – view and download PDF
  • “There is no ceasefire”
    Briefings by GOAL, and by the Syrian British Medical Society
  • What next after the Supporting Syria and the Region Conference?
    Ruham Hawash, Abdelsalam Daif, Ahmad Tarakji, Maria Al Abdeh, Assaad Al Achi, Mathieu Rouquette
  • Human resources in protracted crises: Syria’s medical workers
    Fouad M.Fouad, Mohamad Alameddine, Adam Coutts
  • Why civilian protection is a must in Syria
    Yasmine Nahlawi


Syria Notes No. 6: 3 February 2016 – view and download PDF
  • We must end the shameful paralysis on Syria
    Andrew Mitchell and Clare Short
  • Reporting in drawings
    Olivier Kugler
  • London Syria Conference: Beyond Aid
    Rouba Mhaissen and Anna Chernova
  • For peace, act on Resolution 2254
    UK Syrian groups on the Geneva talks
  • Airdropping aid to starving Syrians is doable
    Haid Haid
  • Discussing Civilian Protection
    With Yasmine Nahlawi, Muzna Al-Naib, Dr Ayman S Jundi, Hamish de Bretton-Gordon


Syria Notes No. 5: 19 January 2016 – view and download PDF
  • A moral duty to starving Syrians
    Paddy Ashdown and Jo Cox
  • The SBMS calls for lifting of the starvation sieges
    Syrian British Medical Society
  • News from Moadamiya
    Moadamiya Levant media office
  • News from Daraya City
    Local Council of Daraya City
  • Speaking with Syrians under siege
    Interviews by The Syria Campaign


Syria Notes No. 4: 5 January 2016 – view and download PDF
  • Syrian Women Peacebuilders
    Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh
  • Syrian civilians killed by air attacks in 2015
    Data from the Violations Documentation Center in Syria
  • Dead and missing in the Mediterranean
    Data from the International Organization for Migration
  • Women’s perspectives on the Syria conflict
    With Laila Alodaat and Raheb Alwany
  • A personal reflection on engaging with Stop the War
    Hala Alshami


Syria Notes No. 3: 7 December 2015 – view and download PDF
  • Now protect Syrians from Assad
    Garvan Walshe
  • The Humanitarian Impact of Russia’s Intervention
    Notes from a presentation by aid NGO GOAL
  • “They”
    Bashar Farahat
  • Challenges for Women Peacebuilders
    Laila Alodaat
  • “Peacebuilding defines our future now”
    Presenting a study of women’s peace activism in Syria
  • Talking Descartes with Syrian Refugee Children
    Maysaloon


Syria Notes No. 2: 23 November 2015 – view and download PDF
  • Listening to Syrians
    Jeff Smith
  • Documenting abuses and counting the killed
    Wael Aleji
  • Who is killing civilians in Syria?
    Data from Syrian Network For Human Rights
  • The Malice of Power: Arrests in Syria as Part of a Politico-Economic Rationale
    Ansar Jasim
  • Is stopping barrel bombs in Syria a priority?
    Haid Haid
  • Before speaking
    Rouba Mhaissen


Syria Notes No. 1: 9 November 2015 – view and download PDF
  • An Introduction
    Jo Cox and Andrew Mitchell
  • Containment of Syria failed, Europe is paying the price
    Bassma Kodmani
  • Listening to Refugees
    Survey of Syrian refugees in Germany
  • A Government of Corruption, Nepotism, and Impunity
    Rashad al-Kattan
  • The Crossing
    Robin Yassin-Kassab on Samar Yazbek’s book, “The Crossing: My Journey to the Shattered Heart of Syria”
  • The Struggle for Accountability
    Discussing ‘A Step towards Justice: On current accountability options for crimes under international law committed in Syria’
  • The Caesar photographs
    Evidence of mass torture and killing in Assad’s prisons
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All-Party Parliamentary Group Friends of Syria
www.appgfriendsofsyria.org

Co-chairs: Alison McGovern MP and Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP
Secretary: John Woodcock MP • Treasurer: Bob Stewart MP

Secretariat: secretariat@appgfriendsofsyria.org • @appgsyria


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