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Syria Notes back issues

The first 22 issues of Syria Notes were published by the Secretariat of the All-Party Parliamentary Group Friends of Syria, in the United Kingdom.

More recent issues were published by Red Phone Radio Ltd.

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

As well as complete issues, we have also published occasional diary entries.


Syria Notes no. 30 — Freedom’s price — spring 2025


Syria Notes no. 29 — The Message: Syrians speaking out for a fractured nation — September 2024
  • Opportunities for justice
    With a new Government in Westminster, Syrians are hoping for a renewal of engagement on justice and accountability.
  • The atrocity investigator
    We talk to Yasmine Nahlawi, head of the Syrian British Consortium’s investigations team.
  • The problem with containment
    Sawsan Abou Zainedin talks about Madaniya, a platform for Syrian civil society organisations.
  • Speaking from experience
    We talk to Waad and Hamza al-Kateab about Action for Sama’s response to collective trauma.
  • To live in safety
    Kinan of Life Seekers Aid, a charity established by asylum seekers and refugees, already sees changes under the new Government.


Syria Notes no. 28 — Area 55: Stories from Syria’s twilight zone — spring 2022
  • A Syrian hell under Western eyes [PDF]
    The Editors
  • Stories from Rukban Network
    Fatima Al-Asaad, Emad Ghaly, Muhammad Al-Omar, Maryam Al-Faisal
  • How Rukban came to be
    Sara Elizabeth Williams
  • The people of no man’s land
    Syria Notes talks to film-maker Daham Alasaad
  • ‘We’re watching people suffer’
    An interview with Robert Ford
  • The isolation of Area 55
    An interview with Joel Rayburn
  • ‘I should like to draw a line…’
    Syria Notes talks to historians James Barr and Elizabeth F Thompson

See also:

Some stories from this issue were also published online in Arabic:


Photos: Rukban Network (Hesar)


Syria Notes no. 27 — A garden in Ghouta — summer 2021 [PDF]

This issue tells a story of the Syrian war in comic strip form — a story that was told to us by a survivor of the siege of Eastern Ghouta.



Special issue — Fortress UK — online only — spring 2021

Some stories from this issue were also published online in Arabic:



Syria Notes no. 26 — Target: The systematic bombing of hospitals — autumn 2019 [PDF]


Syria Notes no. 25 — Testimony : Listening to Syrians — spring 2019 [PDF]



Syria Notes no. 24 — Idlib pocket: Holding on to the revolution — autumn 2018 [PDF]


Syria Notes no. 23 — After the fall: Debating reconstruction — summer 2018 [PDF]


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



Mohamed Ma’rouf together with his family—from Sally Hayden and Ziad Ghandour’s report, ‘The Syrian refugees who want to go home.’
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



Amina, Noura, and Ghada, of Families for Freedom.
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



The Mukhabarat: Lt. General Jamil Hassan, Air Force Intelligence, and Maj. General Ali Mamlouk, National Security Bureau.
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

Raqqa bombing victims, Ritaj, Islam, and Hadeel, from a family photograph.


Voting in Saraqib, 18 July 2017.
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



Grand Mufti Hassoun and interpreter, speaking to Ireland’s Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, Trade and Defence, 1 December 2016.
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, 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



Idlib Pocket
Holding on to the revolution in Syria’s northwest