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 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
Decisive juncture. People walk past a billboard in Istanbul depicting a multiple choice answer sheet folded into a paper airplane. (AFP)
What the Istanbul election could tell us
June 15, 2019
Unknown insights. Cover of Sam Dagher’s new book “Assad Or We Burn the Country: How One Family’s Lust for Power Destroyed Syria.”
New book reveals unknown details about how Assad prevailed in Syria
June 08, 2019
A view of a street in Vilvoorde, Belgium. (AFP)
This European country’s deradicalisation plan actually works
May 25, 2019
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, of the Socialist Workers’ Party, speaks to supporters while celebrating the result in Spain’s general election in Madrid, April 28. (Reuters)
Spanish election shows there’s hope yet for Europe
May 04, 2019
Stubborn threat. A 2014 file photo shows an Islamic State militant in Syria’s northern Raqqa province. (Reuters)
What ISIS defeat means for Europe’s domestic terror threat
April 20, 2019
An embarrassing setback. An AKP supporter stands near the headquarters of the party in Istanbul, March 31. (AFP)
Erdogan’s version of democracy is one in which only he wins
April 13, 2019