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.
- Exile or death: Assad’s campaign against East Ghouta
Syria Notes staff - Assad’s torture chiefs
Brian Slocock - Is British policy in Syria helping Assad and Putin?
Syria Notes staff - ‘There is no Syria left’
Syria Notes staff - How the Syrian regime uses faith leaders as sockpuppets
Ivana Bacik
As well as complete issues, we have also published occasional diary entries.
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Remembering Brian Slocock — 17 April 2024
Marking the passing of a valued contributor In Daraa, the regime returns to war — 4 August 2021
On a renewed siege by the Assad regime and its allies The price of impunity — 24 July 2021
On Sam Dagher’s book, Assad or We Burn the Country Syria Notes’ Diary — 6 November 2019
Events in Westminster in the autumn of 2019 The power to go to war — 6 November 2019
On the role of Parliament in authorising use of military force
Syria Notes no. 30 — Freedom’s price — spring 2025
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In my own name
A letter to the reader After Assad
The challenges of a new age in Syria An update on UK sanctions
Amendment lifts sectoral sanctions on Syria The slow torture of sanctions
An in-depth look at the UK’s sectoral sanctions on Syria Syria’s health system is on the brink
Eleanor Nott on how sanctions are impacting healthcare Rumours and lies
Ahmad Primo of Verify Syria tells of the fight against disinformation A freedom with rules
Yara Bader on the needs of journalism in today’s Syria ‘The Grapes of our Country’
Kholoud Helmi talks about the revolutionary newspaper Enab Baladi Invasion timeline
Following Enab Baladi’s reporting on Israel’s advance into Syria A critical moment for Syrian media
Camilla Bruun Randrup of IMS tells of old and new challenges
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:
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Notes on Rukban Camp — briefing — June 2021.
Coalition abandons Rukban civilians to Assad — updates — September 2021
Some stories from this issue were also published online in Arabic:
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قصص من شبكة الركبان
تعمل مجموعة من المواطنين الصحفيين على إنهاء عزلة مخيم الركبان عن العالم هل سأموت وحيداً في الصحراء؟
تمكنت عائلة أبو محمد من النجاة و لكنه بقي وحيدا في مخيم الركبان عيونٌ وأيادٍ
بدأ حياة دعاء مع وصول عائلتها إلى مخيم الركبان لن أسامحكم!
عباس ذو الثلاثة عشر ربيعا يعمل في بيع المياة في مخيم الركبان الأمهات المعجزات
أخبرتنا أن أحمد أن الحياة في مخيم الركبان جعلتها تشيخ عشرين سنة موت مع وقف التنفيذ!
'انا محاصر أيضا باعاقتي' هذا ما قاله لنا أبو فارس عن حياته بالركبان صوت يتحدى الحصار
فريق شبكة الركبان يتحدث عن مشروعهم الصحفي
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
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Asylum law made easy
By Clara Connolly Napier Barracks: worse than prison
Bridget Chapman of Kent Refugee Action Network talks to Syria Notes How to seek asylum in the UK
By Clara Connolly When the best lawyers are free
Sonia Lenegan of the ILPA talks to Syria Notes Covid, contingency accommodation, and Care4Calais
Hannah Marwood of Care4Calais talks to Syria Notes Hotel Limbo — part one
The Crowne Plaza, Heathrow Hotel Limbo — part two
The new arrival
Some stories from this issue were also published online in Arabic:
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بريطانيا المحصنة
في عدد ربيع العام ٢٠٢١ نلقي الضوء على التغيرات التي تطال قانون اللجوء وإجراءاته في المملكة المتحدة قانون اللجوء بأسلوب مبسط
كلارا كونولي أسوأ من سجن: معسكر نيبير لاحتجاز طالبي اللجوء
حوار أجرته «مشاهد سورية» مع بريدجيت تشابمان من شبكة مقاطعة كِنت لمساعدة اللاجئين كيف يُطلب اللجوء في المملكة المتحدة
كلارا كونولي عندما يعمل أفضل المحامين مجاناً
مقابلة كلارا كونولي مع سونيا لينيغان
Syria Notes no. 26 — Target: The systematic bombing of hospitals — autumn 2019 [PDF]
- Introduction: The red carpet
Waad al-Kateab on her film For Sama, at Cannes and at the UN. - The doctor covered in dust
A Syrian medic talks to Syria Notes. - Investigating hospital attacks
Can a new UN inquiry achieve results? - The men who give the orders
Officers responsible for Russia’s airstrikes. - Case files
Hospital attacks, 28 April–10 July 2019. - Assad and Putin’s criminal strategy
How to understand and counter it? - Birth under bombing I
Interview with a mother in Idlib. - Birth under bombing II
Interview with a doctor in Idlib.
Syria Notes no. 25 — Testimony : Listening to Syrians — spring 2019 [PDF]
- Remembering Raed Fares and Hammoud al-Juneid
- Kafranbel’s fight against extremism
Interview with Mohammed Alhammadi. - In the Women’s Centre
Interview with a female activist in Kafranbel. - How Radio Fresh saved lives in Idlib
Interview with Mahmoud Yusuf Alswad. - Nusra’s 2016 attack on Radio Fresh
By Julia Taleb. - Kafranbel’s cartoon revolution
Interview with Ahmad Kalil al-Jalal. - Supporting civil resistance in Idlib
Interview with Ziad Khayyata. - The Syrian revolution in three minutes
- Amina’s three brothers
Testimony by Amina Khoulani. - Justice after ISIS
Syria Direct interview with Nadim Houry. - Connecting a global Syria
Interview with Rafif Jouejati.
Syria Notes no. 24 — Idlib pocket: Holding on to the revolution — autumn 2018 [PDF]
- Death and life in the Idlib pocket
A reprieve for people in Idlib and western Aleppo. - Civil resistance to extremism in Idlib
By Julia Taleb. - Fears as UK cuts Free Police funds
By Mohammad Abdulssattar Ibrahim and Barrett Limoges. - Command responsibility
Ambassador Karen Pierce names names at the UN Security Council. - Notes on accountability
Breaking Ghouta; Siege Watch; Universal jurisdiction; ‘Caesar’ Act; Sanctions and Russia; Tracking aircraft. - The bombing of Hass hospital
By Eliot Higgins. - ‘She has big dreams’
Video journalism by Liberated T. - Coping with displacement
By Heba Ajami.
Syria Notes no. 23 — After the fall: Debating reconstruction — summer 2018 [PDF]
- What if we accept Bashar al-Assad?
By Marcell Shehwaro. - To reconstruct or not to reconstruct
By Sawsan Abou Zainedin and Hani Fakhani. - Reconstruction in conflict
Notes from an All-Party Parliamentary Group Friends of Syria event with Reem Assil, Tobias Schneider, and Fadi Hallisso. Chaired by Rt Hon. Andrew Mitchell MP. - Reconstruction and human rights
An event by the Syrian Legal Development Programme and Chatham House, with Maria Alabdeh, Jean-François Hasperue, Toby Cadman, Wayne Jordash, Fionna Smyth, and Joseph Daher. - Civil society and political transition
By Abdullah Allabwani.
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
Holding on to the revolution in Syria’s northwest
After the fall
Debating reconstruction in a broken Syria
Debating reconstruction in a broken Syria