Spotlight
The Bombs Beneath Their Feet
Seven months after the fall of the Assad regime, the detritus of battle still weighs on Syria’s land. Unexploded ordnance litters the countryside, maiming children and threatening farmers, returning refugees and aid workers, while also delaying the country’s recovery.
Hiking the Lebanon Trail
A grassroots ecotourism initiative in Lebanon is using hiking trails to reconnect fragmented communities, revive struggling local economies and reshape the country’s image amid renewed regional conflict.
The Toll of Israel’s War on Iran
From Tehran to Los Angeles, Iranians are struggling to make sense of a war that claimed to free them while silencing their voices.
Cutting US Aid Jeopardizes the Lives of Ukrainian Civilians
Dodging Russian bombs is nothing new for Ukraine’s evacuators, teams of volunteers that crisscross the country to help civilians escape the approaching front line. But the financial bombshell dropped by Elon Musk’s chainsawing of USAID was impossible to avoid.
A Pact Between Al-Shabab and the Houthis Threatens Red Sea Shipping
A growing covert alliance between the Houthis in Yemen and al-Shabab in Somalia is creating a new axis of piracy, smuggling and asymmetric warfare along the Red Sea.
In the Hills Above Freetown, a Chimp Sanctuary Is Fighting for Its Existence
Sierra Leone hosts the third-largest chimpanzee population in West Africa, but conservation efforts are under threat from illegal development as the capital city rapidly expands.
Amid the Ghosts of a Refugee Camp
Yarmouk camp in Damascus was long the cultural and political center of Palestinian life in Syria. Today, it is a devastated shell, a shattered monument to lost revolutions, stolen futures and the memory of home.