This Week In Syria Deeply

Welcome to the weekly Syria Deeply update. We’ve rounded up the most important stories and developments from Syria.

Will Syria’s Druze Join Uprising After Assassination of Influential Sheikh?

Syria Deeply spoke to Druze in Sweida about the struggle to remain neutral following the death of one of their religious leaders. Still reeling from an attack by Jabhat al-Nusra earlier this summer, many are hesitant to join the uprising.

(Above: Lebanese Druze gather at a memorial service for Sheikh Walid Balous in Beirut on September 10, 2015. Photo credit: Associated Press/Hussein Malla)

“My Syrian Diary,” By A Teen Girl in Damascus, Continues with Part 39

Marah, a teenage girl from one of Syria’s besieged cities, shares her stories of life in the war. She recently moved to Damascus to continue her education, deciding to focus her college studies on prosthetics, which she hopes to use to help heal the injured in her country’s conflict. In the latest installment, Part 39, Marah begins by writing: “Damascus is a city to love… but all we are thinking of now is how to leave her.”