Top five most read stories on the Syria war

Since MEE launched in April last year, the Syrian conflict has continued to dominate the headlines. To mark the fourth anniversary of the uprising, we take a look at the most read articles on Syria so far. 

1)   Christian foreign fighters deserting Kurdish YPG in Syria because they're 'damn Reds' by Alex MacDonald - 19 February, 2015

Alex MacDonald reports on western foreign volunteers who have backtracked on their decision to join the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) due to the group’s leftist ideology, and instead have joined a Christian militia in the north of Iraq called Dwekh Nawsha.

2) 2,500 people killed in Syria during Ramadan by MEE Staff - 29 July, 2014

Around 2,500 people were killed during the month of Ramadan. More than half of those were civilians who were reportedly killed by the Assad government. The Islamic State group killed over 200 opposition fighters and dozens of civilians in the same period.

3)   41 children killed in Syria school bombing by MEE and agencies -1 October, 2014

A car bomb was detonated in front a school in government controlled Homs, just as schoolchildren were leaving the building. A second bomb exploded minutes after the first after a suicide bomber detonated his car. The incident happened shortly after government forces retook the city, following a localised peace deal. 

4)   Understanding Syria’s four-front war by Christopher Phillips - 5 August, 2014 

As the world’s attention was focused on the Israeli war on Gaza last summer, new dynamics were being thrust into the Syrian conflict. Christopher Phillips dissected how the war was now being fought on four intersecting fronts: the Assad government, the Islamic State, the Kurds, and the mainstream rebels. 

5)   ‘The saddest museum director in the world’: documenting Syria’s lost antiquities by Jonathan Steele - 24 September, 2014

The many artefacts that were displayed in the National Museum in Damascus have been moved and hidden in a secret location to ensure that they will not be destroyed, writes Jonathan Steele from the Syrian capital. 

Editors pick 

What it’s like being a human target in Syria Abo Bakr al Haj Ali - 13 February, 2015 

MEE contributor Abo Bakr al-Haj Ali was wounded in a barrel bomb attack while working as a cameraman in his native town of Derra in Syria. In this first-hand account he recalls the incident - the third time he has been seriously injured covering the Syrian uprising - and talks about the difficulty of working as a journalist in Syria.