Syria at night
TURKEY
Raqqa
Aleppo
Deir al-Zour
SYRIA
Homs
LEBANON
IRAQ
Damascus
March
2012
JORDAN
TURKEY
Raqqa
Aleppo
Deir al-Zour
SYRIA
Homs
LEBANON
IRAQ
Damascus
December
2014
JORDAN
The New York Times
A Nation Going Dark
An analysis of satellite photographs
taken over Syria found that the country is 83 percent darker at night
than before the war. Widespread migration is one of the main causes.
Aleppo
March 2012
Dec. 2014
Damascus
March 2012
Dec. 2014
The New York Times
Aleppo has been an active battle zone
for nearly three years. Home to two million people before the war, the
city is now 91 percent darker at night. Population migration, power
cutoffs and destruction of infrastructure were the main reasons for the
decline, according to Xi Li, one of the authors of the study.
The
analysis compared composite images from satellite photographs, taken on
five to 10 nights each month since the beginning of the war. Regions
that are not firmly held by a specific group are more prone to
population displacement and power shortages, two of the main reasons for
losing their night lights, Mr. Li said.
Damascus
has been under government control but is now 35 percent darker than
before the war. But the capital’s suburbs, where fighting has been
fierce, are 63 percent darker.
In Deir al-Zour and Raqqa, which are largely controlled by the Islamic State, the group has struggled to keep power flowing, especially after the coalition airstrike campaign that began in August last year.
Raqqa
Raqqa
Deir al-Zour
Deir al-Zour
SYRIA
SYRIA
IRAQ
IRAQ
March 2012
Dec. 2014
The New York Times
A Country Torn Apart
Syria is splintered among government
forces and a number of rebel groups. The most prominent rebel group, the
Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, took control of large parts
of the country last summer. The division has remained largely unchanged
since then.
TURKEY
Kurdish forces
Hasakah
Other rebel groups
Aleppo
Raqqa
ISIS areas
Deir al-Zour
Hama
Pro-government
forces
SYRIA
Mediterranean
Sea
Homs
Abu Kamal
LEBANON
SYRIAN DESERT
IRAQ
Damascus
Darker shades show
areas with higher
population density
ISRAEL
JORDAN
50 miles
The New York Times
TURKEY
Hasakah
Aleppo
Raqqa
Deir al-Zour
Hama
SYRIA
Homs
Abu Kamal
Areas held by pro-
government forces
LEBANON
Damascus
IRAQ
Dara’a
JORDAN
50 miles
The New York Times
Pro-Government Forces
Pro-government forces control the coastal
areas, where a significant part of the population is made up of
Alawites, the same religious sect to which President Bashar al-Assad
belongs. While the government controls major population centers in the
west, the provincial capitals of Dara’a and Aleppo are battlegrounds.
Pro-government forces made some recent gains in Damascus’s eastern
suburbs, where they have also faced strong resistance.
TURKEY
Areas under
ISIS control
Hasakah
Aleppo
Raqqa
Natural gas
pipeline
Deir al-Zour
Hama
SYRIA
Homs
Abu Kamal
LEBANON
Oil pipeline
Damascus
IRAQ
JORDAN
50 miles
The New York Times
Islamic State
The Islamic State is under pressure from
battles with pro-government fighters and other rebel groups, and from
bombings from the American-led coalition. Airstrikes against oil
infrastructure have disrupted one of the group’s important sources of
revenue, but have had little effect on its war effort, said Jennifer
Cafarella, an analyst at the Institute for the Study of War. “The
effectiveness of airstrikes against ISIS is limited to the areas in
northern Syria where a ground partner is available, and have not
actually challenged ISIS in the Syrian interior,” Ms. Cafarella said.
TURKEY
Kurdish forces
Hasakah
Aleppo
Raqqa
Areas held by other
opposition groups
Deir al-Zour
Hama
SYRIA
Homs
Abu Kamal
LEBANON
Damascus
IRAQ
JORDAN
50 miles
The New York Times
Other Opposition Groups
In September, the United States Congress approved arming
and training rebels in the Free Syrian Army, a loosely knit group that
includes citizens who have taken up arms, army defectors and Islamists
perceived as moderate by the United States. In Aleppo, one of the war’s
most important battlefronts, American-supported groups have collaborated
with the Nusra Front, a local branch of Al Qaeda and a U.S.-designated
terrorist organization.
Half of Syrians Displaced
The war has displaced 7.6 million people
inside Syria and pushed 3.9 million more — half of them children — to
seek refuge in other countries, according to figures collected by United
Nations agencies.
A Syrian
Kurdish woman waited with her children to be taken to a shelter in
Turkey, after fleeing Kobani, a Kurdish town, last September. Bryan Denton for The New York Times
TURKEY
1.7 million
refugees
Refugee camps and concentrations
of internally displaced people
Six more
camps
Aleppo
Raqqa
SYRIA
7.6 million
internally displaced
LEBANON
1.2 million
registered
refugees
SYRIAN DESERT
IRAQ
245,000
refugees
Damascus
JORDAN
625,000
refugees
50 miles
The New York Times
The flood of refugees has put enormous
pressure on Syria’s neighbors. Turkey has made some effort to integrate
the more than one million Syrians living there by granting them access
to education and social services. But in Lebanon, officials began to
require visas from Syrians in January. The nation, which had just 4.5
million people before the war, now hosts about 1.2 million registered
refugees and an estimated 500,000 unregistered.
About
5.6 million children inside Syria are enduring hardships that include
poverty, displacement and the dangers of living in conflict zones,
according to figures from Unicef.
Sources: Xi Li and Deren Li, Wuhan University, and Rui
Zhang, University of Maryland at College Park (nighttime lights
analysis); Strategic Needs Analysis Project (areas of control in Syria);
IHS Energy Data Information Navigator (oil and gas data); United States
Department of State Humanitarian Information Unit (refugee camps);
United Nations.
Additional work by Archie Tse, Karen Zraick and David Furst.
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Syria After Four Years of Mayhem
New York Times-22 hours agoAleppo has been an active battle zone for nearly three years. Home to two million people before the war, the city is now 91 percent darker at ...
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