Home
/
Isiam
/
Islamic World
/
Displaced Syrians battle for online lifeline
Displaced Syrians battle for online lifeline
Apr 4, 2025 4:41 PM

  Yousef sat on the navy couch with his arms wrapped tightly around his legs, and rocked back and forth.

  It's a position he has become all too familiar with over the past year. He turned on his laptop and waited fitfully for Skype to load.

  "Without Skype I wouldn't be able to be in touch with my family in Aleppo," he said in his living room in Beirut. "Sometimes it doesn't work - you don't want to know what goes through my head. I have lost many friends in this war." Yousef, who requested that only his first name be used because his family is still in Syria, fled Aleppo more than a year ago, leaving behind his family.

  The city has been the target of a sharp increase in the use of barrel bombs by the Syrian regime in recent weeks. These attacks have claimed hundreds of lives and have resulted in a mass exodus of civilians to the Turkish border.

  When the war in Syria broke out three years ago, there were almost 4.5 million Internet users, which represented about 20 percent of the country's pre-war population.

  The Syrian Telecommunications Establishment (STE) and the Syrian Computer Society (SCS) control the country's Internet. The STE, more commonly known as Syrian Telecom, is controlled by President Bashar al-Assad.

  But since the crisis began, citizens and regime officials have been battling for control of the country's Internet. Using a myriad of tactics, such as cyber attacks, digital surveillance and even shutting down the Internet, the regime and its supporters have attempted to tighten control of information online. Such maneuvers highlight the perils of communication in the war-torn nation.

  Communication control

  A recently published study of stolen Syrian Internet logs provides an insight into the techniques the Syrian regime uses to censor the web.

  The study, published in the journal arXiv, and completed by computer scientists from the University College London and Australia's Information and Communications Technology Research Centre of Excellence, analyzed censorship logs leaked by hackers in 2011.

  The study found that, surprisingly, unlike countries such as China and Iran, the country censors few sites. It found, however, that censorship endeavors were focused on instant messaging and video sharing. Skype was the most censored domain in Syria during the nine-day period examined by researchers.

  "Internet censorship in Syria is indeed less invasive and quite targeted," one of the study's authors, Emiliano De Cristofaro, from the University College London, told Al Jazeera.

  "In fact, while aggressively censoring instant messaging, the censorship selectively targets a few Facebook pages and geopolitically significant content. This, however, does not necessarily mean minor information control or less ubiquitous surveillance, but rather shows that censorship aims at a more subtle control of the Internet, probably achieving a vast capability of surveillance and less evident (and prone to backslash) active censorship."

  Thus, by enabling Internet users to use social media sites like Facebook, the regime has been able to collect usernames and passwords to gain access to people's accounts.

  "Syrian Facebook users should be very wary," said Jillian York, director of International Freedom of Expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

  "While Facebook itself has stepped up security to make it more difficult for governments to spy on users, Syrian authorities continue to intimidate users into handing over their passwords during interrogation, and there have been reports of 'honeypots' - Syrian spies posing as young women, for example, and befriending Syrians in order to get personal information about them."

  Harsh penalties

  According to a new report by Reporters Without Borders, titled Enemies of the Internet 2014: entities at the heart of censorship and surveillance, it is not just the Syrian regime that is the agent of repression in the country.

  "Jihadi groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) also monitor news and information online," the report said. "These organizations do not have the resources of the Syrian regime but are still able to monitor social networking sites and infiltrate Facebook groups."

  The report also highlighted that Internet surveillance provided a platform for the Syrian regime to arrest countless activists and media workers working to disseminate information.

  "Dozens of Syrians involved in the news industry have been arrested and tortured after giving interviews to foreign news organizations about the repression in their country," it said. "The experiences of those who have been released are enlightening: The intelligence agents who questioned them knew all about their activities and their contacts.

  Countless people have been arrested for 'liking' a page supporting the uprising or for posting videos of demonstrations."

  York said, however, that most "at-risk" Syrian Internet users appeared to have wizened to the government's tactics and were taking precautions online.

  "Rather, my concerns are now focused more on the traditional tactics such as torturing users for their passwords," she added.

  Internet benefits

  While experts warned Syrian Internet users to be conscious and wary of their online activity, others were quick to point out its unprecedented benefits in the midst of a bloody war.

  A Syrian doctor, who used to work in rural Damascus but has since resettled in the US, spoke of a particular incident in which a pediatrician assisted a pregnant woman to deliver a baby with no medical training in obstetrics.

  "Believe it or not, he used YouTube to familiarize himself with the procedure before he started," the doctor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of fear for his family who are still in Syria, said.

  "The woman came to him many times for prenatal care and she begged him to assist her in the delivery as he was the only doctor in the area."

  Meanwhile, Dr Zaher Sahloul, a pulmonologist and president of the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS), has been treating patients in his homeland for more two years, 10,000km away in Chicago - via Skype.

  Several hospitals in areas such as Idlib in northwest Syria, have intensive care units that connect critical care specialists in the US to local doctors and nurses.

  Using Skype and webcams they guide medics with limited experience through complicated procedures, transforming the chances of recovery for some patients.

  Dr Sahloul has also filmed and uploaded tutorials in Arabic to YouTube to guide doctors in Syria on how to treat external bleeding, clean wounds and suture injuries commonly sustained in conflict zones.

  Meanwhile, back at Yousef's house, he breathes a deep sigh of relief as his sister answers his much-anticipated Skype call.

  PHOTO CAPTION

  A view shows a damaged building in Aleppo's Karm al-Jabal district March 17, 2014.

  Source: Aljazeera.com

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Islamic World
Gaza killings constitute 'war crimes': Amnesty
  The attacks on Palestinian protesters by Israeli forces on Monday are “willful killings constituting war crimes,” the Amnesty International said.   “This is another horrific example of the Israeli military using excessive force and live ammunition in a totally deplorable way. This is a violation of international standards, in some instances...
For Palestinians, US embassy move cements occupation status quo
  Tens of thousands of Jewish settlers, surrounded by police protection, have marched around the Old City, celebrating Jerusalem Day on the eve of the US embassy move from Tel Aviv.   The annual event, which commemorates the Israeli annexation of occupied East Jerusalem in 1967, is regarded by the city's Palestinian...
After girl's rape and killing, fear engulfs Muslim nomads
  For Amjad Ali, a Muslim nomad, this year's migratory journey from Jammu towards the mountains of Kashmir is going to be longer than usual.   Each year, the 40-year-old and other members of his Bakarwal community typically leave their houses in Rasana and adjoining villages in Indian-administered Kashmir in mid-May.   Their...
Palestinians face explosive bullets, dangerous gas bombs
  When he was hit by a bullet fired by Israeli forces during demonstrations in Gaza on April 6, Mohammed al-Zaieem lost so much blood, and his left leg was so deformed, he feared he wouldn't survive.   His arteries, veins and a large piece of bone were destroyed. His right leg...
UNRWA: 3,500 Palestinian refugees flee Syria's Yarmouk camp
  People 'sleeping in the streets and begging for medicine' as Assad regime steps up offensive in southern Damascus.   An estimated 3,500 Palestinians have fled the embattled Yarmouk refugee camp during a week of violence, according to the UN, as the Syrian regime escalates its ongoing military operation in southern Damascus....
Israel and the loss of collective hope
  For seven decades the UN has failed to fulfill its original mission. Israel is the epitome of this grand failure.   by Stanley L Cohen   The United Nations sits on First Avenue, just off of 41st Street, overlooking the East River in New York City. It opened to great applause and...
The October Arab-Israeli War of 1973: What happened?
  It has been 45 years since the start of the 1973 War between Israel, Egypt and Syria.   The war, known to Israelis as the Yom Kippur War, and to Arabs as the October War, ushered in a new reality in the Arab world and changed the face of US foreign...
One year after battle for Mosul, a city lies in ruins
  One year ago, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi stood in front of cameras in Mosul and declared the city recaptured after three years of being occupied by ISIL, also known as ISIS.   Clad in a black uniform and flanked by army commanders and heads of security forces that were involved...
Despite seven years of death and destruction, Assad hangs on
  More than 500,000 people have died and millions more have fled their homes since an uprising against Assad began.   The leaders of the US, France, and UK have all but made clear that the air strikes launched on Saturday against Syrian regime positions were limited to destroying the country's chemical...
Gaza is Soweto revisited
  By Andrew Mitrovica   Israel has turned Gaza into Soweto - while Israel has become South Africa - circa 1976.   One of the conventions of column writing is that you're not supposed to write "angry". More polite, agreeable writers who write polite, agreeable columns, often dismiss "angry" columns as "rants".   So,...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved