Current Analysis Seeking Shelter in Jordan’s Cities Umm Anas’ four-room apartment rings with the muffled laughter of children told to hush. Her six sons and daughters and four neighborhood children huddle around a tiny, rickety television in the otherwise unfurnished living room. Arabic-dubbed episodes of the “How to Train Your Dragon” television ser Vicky Kelberer • 8 min read
Current Analysis Where Is Israel in the Refugee Crisis? Last week, SodaStream [http://www.merip.org/mero/mero041814] CEO Daniel Birnbaum and Mayor Talal Al-Krenawi of the Negev Bedouin city Rahat issued a joint statement [http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/SodaStream-offers-to-take-in-Syrian-refugees-417830] offering the absorption of 1,000 refugees from S Michael Fin, Callie Maidhof • 4 min read
Current Analysis We Can—and Should—Do More to Help Syrian Refugees Imagine that 58 million Americans were streaming into Canada and Mexico, many with only a small satchel and the clothes on their backs. Picture another 102 million residents of the Eastern seaboard seeking refuge with relatives in the Midwest and West. That terrifying mental exercise gives a sense Chris Toensing • 2 min read
Current Analysis Conflict, Forced Migration and Property Claims Amidst widespread fighting in Iraq and Syria, millions of distressed civilians have fled their homes. In Yemen as well, war has led to mass displacement as people try to escape threats to their lives and livelihoods. These instances of forced migration create overwhelming immediate problems such as Sandra Joireman, Jon Unruh • 3 min read
Current Analysis Wadi Barada: Snapshot of a Civil War Sa‘id has always loved swimming. When he was little, he spent summer afternoons with his friends on the banks of Syria’s Barada River. When the river level started to drop, in the mid-1990s, he went to a swimming pool newly opened in the nearby village of Basima. The pool belongs to the Abu al-Nour Mohammad Raba'a • 13 min read
MER Article Some Days Before the Day After The conflict in Syria has entered its fifth year, with no end in sight. There is no shortage of visions, however, for what Syria should look like after the fighting is over. Omar S. Dahi • 11 min read
Current Analysis Fuel Subsidy Policy and Popular Mobilization in Syria On February 17, Syrian Minister of Oil Muhammad al-Lahham warned Parliament that the price of fuel would have to increase [http://www.sana.sy/%D9%85%D8%AC%D9%84%D8%B3-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%B9%D8%A8-%D9%8A%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%B9-%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%AC%D9%88%D8%A8%D8%A9-%D9%88%D8%B2%D9%8A%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9 Zachary Cuyler • 5 min read
Current Analysis Trapped in Refuge The daily lives of Syrian refugees in Jordan have always been difficult, but until the winter of 2014-2015, they were defined more by concern about making ends meet than outright panic. Christiane Fröhlich, Matthew R. Stevens • 9 min read
MER Article Starvation, Submission and Survival On December 23, 2012, following a week of imposed scarcity, the Syrian town of Halfaya received 100 sacks of flour from an Islamic charity. The town’s main bakery started churning out bread, an all too infrequent occurrence since violence between the Asad regime and opposition forces escalated earli Brent Eng, Jose Ciro Martinez • 14 min read
Current Analysis Ghosts of the Future Hatay -- a Turkish province on the border with Syria that is now flooded with Syrian refugees -- has a special status in Turkey. In the words of a Syrian doctor to whom we spoke in the summer of 2014 and who failed to get a residency permit to live there, “It’s like [the province] is not exactly par Nick Danforth, Noga Malkin • 9 min read
Current Analysis Security and Resilience Among Syrian Refugees in Jordan Imagine living in a refugee camp. For most, that phrase is enough to conjure images of makeshift tents, dusty pathways, queues for water and food, and above all, fear. Now imagine living in Zaatari refugee camp in a northern part of Jordan 7.5 miles from the Syrian border and Dar‘a region, sharing a Denis Sullivan, Sarah Tobin • 14 min read
Current Analysis The Next Round of an Unwinnable War Beckons Once again, a U.S. president vows to eliminate an extremist militia in the Middle East to make the region, and Americans, safe. And that means it’s time again for a reality check. Having failed in its bid to destroy the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, the United States is still trying to disma Amanda Ufheil-Somers • 2 min read
