Stephen Starr

Stephen Starr is an Irish journalist who lived in Syria from 2007 to 2012. He is the author of Revolt in Syria: Eye-Witness to the Uprising (Oxford University Press: 2012).

Author Articles

A member of the Syrian “White Helmets” disinfects a tent in the Kafr Lusin camp for the displaced by the border with Turkey, in Syria’s province of Idlib, as part of efforts to prevent the spread of coronavirus, March 24. (AFP)
War prepared Syria to deal with epidemic outbreaks
March 28, 2020
A Syrian medic holds an awareness campaign on the coronavirus pandemic, in a camp for displaced people in the province of Idlib, Syria. (AP)
Syria imposes restrictions in the face of virus risk but still allows flights from Iran
March 21, 2020
Beirut’s seaside corniche, or waterfront promenade, along the Mediterranean Sea, seen almost empty of residents and tourists in Beirut, March 12. (AP)
Pandemic will ruin Middle East’s 2020 tourism economy
March 14, 2020
A migrant shows tear gas canisters to media members as they wait on the no man’s land between Turkey and Greece, at Turkey’s Pazarkule border crossing with Greece’s Kastanies, near Edirne in Turkey, March 5.(Reuters)
Turkey’s opening of Greek border plays into Assad’s hands
March 07, 2020
German chief federal prosecutor Peter Frank as he gives a press statement on February 20, 2020 in Karlsruhe, southern Germany, to comment on the proceedings after a shooter with suspected far-right beliefs killed nine people at a shisha bar and a cafe in the German city of Hanau.(AFP)
Far-right terrorism and Islamic extremism are two sides of the same coin
February 29, 2020
An Israeli soldier launches an unmanned aerial drone near the Quneitra crossing, the only border crossing with Syria in the Golan Heights. (AFP)
Israel’s new type of war means Iran will never achieve its goals in Syria
February 22, 2020
A 2018 file picture of Syrians riding a motorcycle past destroyed buildings in an opposition-held neighbourhood of the southern city of Daraa. (AFP)
Rising discontent in Syria’s Daraa, Sweida reflects simmering woes
February 15, 2020
A Syrian Army soldier in Maaret al-Numan, Syria, January 30. (Reuters)
Fall of Maaret al-Numan: The final nail in Turkey’s Syria adventure
February 08, 2020
Syrian children, who fled air Assad regime/Russian strikes in their hometown, are pictured near tents at an informal camp for displaced people in Syria's Idlib province, January 7. (AFP)
Sanctions against Syria don’t work, only making humanitarian situation dire
January 11, 2020
German Chancellor Angela Merkel talks with Syrian refugee children at a preschool, during a visit to a refugee camp on the Turkish-Syrian border in Gaziantep. (AFP)
Syria in 2030 will look a lot like 2010 but with one major difference — Opposition in exile
January 04, 2020
Autocratic slide. Turkish children stand in front of a billboard with a picture of Turkey’s President Recep Tayip Erdogan and a poster of his ruling Justice and Development Party, AKP, in the border town of Akcakale, last October. (AP)
The Turkish decade that will live in infamy
December 21, 2019
Cutback. US residents in support of continued refugee resettlement hold signs at a meeting in Bismarck, North Dakota, December 9. (AP)
Trump upending world’s biggest refugee programme
December 14, 2019
A Palestinian man and children carry bags of cereal outside an aid distribution centre run by UNRWA in the central Gaza Strip refugee camp of Bureij, July 31.(AFP)
Who will help Palestinian refugees if UNRWA falls?
November 09, 2019
Renewed fears. A Syrian boy walks in al-Hol camp for the internally displaced people in Hasakah governorate in north-eastern Syria. (AFP)
Handing ISIS fighters over to Turkey could terribly backfire
October 19, 2019
A boy rides a bicycle in front of a gate bearing images of Syrian President Bashar Assad (L) and his late father Hafez Assad in the southern Syrian city of Daraa, 2018. (AFP)
The quiet tragedy of a teenage boy in Damascus
September 28, 2019
Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar (R) speaks with a Turkish officer at the Turkey-Iraq border near Hakkari, last June. (AP)
Turkey’s military interventions in Iraq hardly achieve anything
August 31, 2019
A timed resignation. Ali Babacan, then Turkish deputy prime minister, gestures during a session in Davos, in 2015. (Reuters)
Is Ali Babacan the man to finally take on Erdogan?
July 20, 2019
Rescue workers look towards a migrant boat as it sails close to the Open Arms aid vessel, June 30. (AP)
Migrant crisis still alive but Europe’s stance grows more sinister
July 06, 2019
Ekrem Imamoglu, candidate of Turkey’s secular opposition Republican People’s Party, makes a statement after his election victory, in Istanbul, June 23, 2019. (AP)
Will Istanbul results finally see Turkey’s CHP get it together?
June 29, 2019
Still out. President Bashar al-Assad heading a cabinet meeting in the Syrian capital Damascus.AFP
Syria still faces uphill struggle to return to international fold
June 22, 2019