Martin Armstrong

  • The Syrian Refugees Living in an Abandoned Lebanese Mall

    Around 1,000 refugees have built improvised homes in a derelict mall after fleeing their war-torn hometowns. They have to endure poverty and cramped living conditions as well as prejudice from the locals.

  • The Search for Deso Dogg, the German Rapper Turned Jihadi Poster Boy

    On September 9, rumors began to circulate on social media that Deso Dogg, a German rapper operating under the nom de guerre “Abu Talha Al-Almani” (Abu Talha the German) had been injured fighting with the Syrian opposition.

  • Is the Syrian Regime Responsible for the Worst Chemical Attack in Decades?

    Yesterday harrowing videos began to spread across social media showing that chemical agents had been used in a number of towns in East Ghouta, a district on the outskirts of Damascus.

  • Hezbollah Stronghold in Beirut Bombed

    Thursday’s explosion in the Dahiyeh—an almost autonomous state-within-a-state in Beirut that is controlled by the Lebanese Shia party Hezbollah—was the second of such attacks to hit the area in the last couple of months and signaled that Hezbollah's...

  • Tagging the Revolution in Northern Syria

    Graffiti found on the crumbling walls and facades of Azaz’s cityscape—the majority of which are scrawled with a focus on sentiment rather than aesthetics—pay homage to the town’s experience of conflict and to the wider geo-political discourse that...

  • Sectarian Tension Builds in Northern Syria

    Hajj’s story is just one example of Shia and Sunni Syrians cleaving down sectarian lines that mirror allegiance to the regime or to the opposition. Sitting in the salon of his family home in the Qoreitem district of Hayyan, Mustapha Outroo, 19, a...

  • Kurds in Syria Celebrate Their New Year with Hope and Defiance

    The celebration of Nawruz, the Persian-Kurdish New Year, was largely tension free, filled with traditional Kurdish dancing and calls for the realization of Kurdish democratic rights within a “new Syria.” It was stunning and eerie in contrast to the...