Damascus

Smoke rises from the besieged Eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria, Feb. 27, 2018.

Opposing sides in Syria's punishing civil war ask whether they can ever forgive

Nour lives in Eastern Ghouta, a rebel stronghold. Naamat is in government-controlled Damascus. They both wonder if they can forgive an enemy who took the lives of friends and family.

Opposing sides in Syria's punishing civil war ask whether they can ever forgive
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad meet at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia.

Putin makes Assad an offer he can't refuse

Putin makes Assad an offer he can't refuse
Syrians asylum seeker, Nawras Soukhta travel by train during a three-year journey to escape his country and live a better life in Sweden.

The long journey Syrian refugees take is confusing. Now imagine doing it as a teenager.

The long journey Syrian refugees take is confusing. Now imagine doing it as a teenager.
Syrian health workers administer polio vaccination to a girl at a school in Damascus, in this file photo taken by Syria's national news agency SANA in October.

Polio adds one more heartbreak to a Syria wracked by war

Polio adds one more heartbreak to a Syria wracked by war
Syrian families were allowed to flee rebel-controlled Moadamiya Tuesday, in a rare instance of coordination between the Syrian government and the opposition.

Syrian regime surrounds rebel neighborhoods with a message: surrender or starve

Syrian regime surrounds rebel neighborhoods with a message: surrender or starve
Karim Shamsi-Basha, who moved from Syria to attend the University of Tennessee in the 1980s, stands with his father, Kheridean Shamsi-Basha.

In his first days in the US, a Syrian Muslim connected with Americans through the Bible

When Karim Shamsi-Basha arrived in the US as a student, he found that Americans had already heard of his birthplace, Damascus. But he couldn't understand why, until he looked in the Bible.

In his first days in the US, a Syrian Muslim connected with Americans through the Bible