Middle East | Syria | Activism

Syrian girls sing of homeland and hope

Sometimes, music speaks when words fail. That’s what a group of Syrian girls discovered through music classes run by the International Rescue Committee. “Expressing yourself through music can be more powerful than plain words,” says 13 year-old Muna,* one of 26 girls who are now budding musicians at the IRC’s women’s center in Bar Elias, Lebanon. “People can listen to you and relate to your problems more.” Muna is part of a wave of over 1.2 million Syrians who have fled to Lebanon since war broke out in 2011. Life here is tough for refugees. Families struggle to create new

Middle East | Syria | Activism

How Seven Syrian Women Brought Global Attention To The Violence In Their City

Source: BuzzFeed

Three years ago, the women in Zabadani, Syria, lived normal lives. Manal, 42, was as an activist and cared for her three children at home with her husband. Noor, 38, also lived with her two children and worked as an activist and painter. Down the road was 37-year-old Sara, a mother of five, who worked as a teacher. Momenah and Ghada were kindergarten teachers, and lived nearby with their children. Raghad, a 26-year-old engineer, and Amal, a doctor who worked in their local hospital, also lived in the area. Today the lives of these seven women are no longer ordinary. Months of regime

Middle East | Syria | Activism

Senior female Isis figure who helped recruit women from Europe to Syria is revealed as student from Seattle

Source: Syriahr

A senior female Isis figure who reportedly helped recruit women to join the extremist group in areas under its self-declared caliphate has been exposed as a student from Seattle, who may have been living in the city up until March this year. The person behind the influential @_UmmWaqqas Twitter account has been revealed by Channel 4 as a woman in her 20s who lived and studied in the US. Her Twitter account had a following of over 8,000 before it was suspended and shows that British recruits, such as Aqsa Mahmood, and other women from Europe were in contact with her in the day