BEIRUT: Syria’s civil war has been one of the modern world’s most brutal conflicts and one of its most heavily filmed. Hundreds of thousands of amateur videos uploaded to YouTube document every heartbeat of the war over the past seven years, from momentous events like cities under bombardment to intimate scenes like a father cradling his dead children.
Syrian activists fear all that history could be erased as YouTube moves to rein in violent content. In the past few months, the online video giant has implemented new policies to remove material considered graphic or supporting terrorism, and hundreds of thousands of videos from the conflict suddenly disappeared without notice. Activists say crucial evidence of human rights violations risks being lost — as well as an outlet to the world that is crucial for them.
Activists are rushing to set up alternative archives, but they also recognize nothing can replace YouTube because of its technological infrastructure and global reach.
“It is like we are writing our memories — not in our own book but in a third party’s book. We don’t have control of it,” said Hadi Al-Khatib, co-founder of the Syrian Archive, a group founded in 2014 to preserve open source evidence of crimes committed by all sides of the Syrian conflict.
Based on his database and review of around 900 groups and individuals, Al-Khatib said some 180 channels connected to Syria were shut since June, when YouTube began using machine learning protocols to sift through videos on the site for objectionable content.
Working with YouTube, Al-Khatib’s group secured the return of about 20 channels, salvaging about 400,000 videos. But about 150,000 videos remain in jeopardy, pending a decision from YouTube, which is still reviewing whether to reinstate them, he said.
“Nothing is lost forever yet,” Al-Khatib said, speaking from Berlin. “But this is very dangerous, because there is no alternative for YouTube.”
YouTube, which is owned by Google, says it will correct any videos improperly taken down and that it is in dialogue with the activists on a solution. But many activists fear a repeat or a permanent loss. The shutdowns were chilling for a community that had just celebrated a possible precedent for Syria when the International Criminal Court in August issued an arrest warrant based on video evidence for a Libyan military commander.
One prominent Syrian human rights group, the Video and Documentation Center in Syria, said it will stop using YouTube and will set up its own storage and platform. “The risk became very big now and we don’t trust this platform anymore for keeping violations evidence,” Husam AlKatlaby, VDC executive director, said in an e-mail.
VDC, registered in Switzerland, has specialized in documenting rights violations since 2011. The group limited access to its YouTube channel since 2014, making it a closed channel, after the company warned it over graphic content.
But not everyone can afford to go on their own. Also, YouTube provides activists with personal accounts for free and technological tools to edit, translate and upload anytime — vital for people taking video out in the field in dangerous circumstances.
Activists used YouTube first to report on the peaceful protests that erupted in 2011 against the rule of President Bashar Assad, using videos taken on mobile phones. As the conflict got bloody, so did the videos, catching the aftermath of chemical attacks, spectacular aerial bombings, rescuers pulling children from rubble, and new strikes hitting rescuers and survivors. Militant groups uploaded videos of beheadings. Government supporters uploaded their own imagery and propaganda.
Often, the images were the only thing to grab the world’s attention in an intractable conflict. A video last year that was viewed more than 4.3 million times showed a child covered in blood and dust after surviving an airstrike in Aleppo, as government forces advanced to recapture the city.
YouTube previously relied in part on a system of community flagging of content deemed inappropriate.
In the Syrian context, that often turned political. Supporters and opponents of the Syrian government have waged digital wars reporting each other’s channels or videos, prompting YouTube to close some. Many videos were lost, including footage of a 2013 chemical attack in a Damascus suburb.
Under pressure in Europe and the West to do more to rein in extremist content, YouTube introduced a number of new measures, including machine learning, which trains itself to recognize patterns in enormous numbers of videos. It identifies “objectionable” material, which is then reviewed by human experts to determine if it should be taken down.
A YouTube spokesperson said the machine learning can remove “a lot of content at a scale.”
“The vast majority of time our reviewers get it right. And when we make mistakes, we act quickly to correct them,” the spokesperson said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with company regulations.
The spokesperson said activists need to improve their data when uploading videos, properly identify them as documenting rights violations and provide context. Meanwhile, the machine learning is being tweaked.
Robin Gross, the executive director of the San Francisco-based IP Justice, an organization that promotes Internet freedom, said powerful images, even if bloody, can change the minds of the public, as they did in the US war in Vietnam.
“Machine learning software doesn’t evaluate the importance of understanding conflict and how an image, even a graphic one, can contribute to better understanding of a situation, which is necessary for addressing it,” Gross said in an e-mail.
The closures’ suddenness and breadth stunned those documenting the conflict. Many opposition activists already feel the international scene is turning against them as the Syrian government and its allies make major battlefield gains. Some were convinced the YouTube shutdowns were because of political pressure.
“There are attempts to finish off the conflict in Syria by any means, including having no coverage or a total blackout on the media by the Syrian opposition,” said Tala Kharrat, spokesman for Qasioun News Agency, whose channel was among those shut down and subsequently reopened on appeal.
Another prominent news platform, the Shaam News Network, has nearly 400,000 videos on its YouTube channel, viewed some 90 million times. In July, its operators found a message saying their channel no longer exists.
Mizyan Altawil, spokesman for SNN, said his network is no stranger to scrutiny of its content, but this time the shutdown was different, with no prior warning. Even more confusing, the channel was reinstated, only to be closed again, then reopened. “We are constantly on the alert,” Altawil said.
The Syrian Archive reached out to activists and media groups affected by the removal and contacted YouTube to restore them. With a team of six and a budget of $96,000, the Archive is also downloading videos to its own server, an expensive and labor-intensive endeavor. The group is partially funded by Google through its Digital News Initiative.
Al-Khatib said the group knew the issue will come up one day, given concerns over proliferation of violent content, and that it was always a “grey area” how long YouTube would handle graphic material.
But the best evidence for war crimes can come from videos showing violence, even ones uploaded by the perpetrators with the intent to terrorize, like an execution video. Sometimes such videos identify and show the faces of militants.
“If they take it down, there will be no graphic content but there will be no evidence.”
History of Syria’s war at risk as YouTube reins in content
History of Syria’s war at risk as YouTube reins in content
Turkiye’s soaring costs are creating a ‘lost generation’ of kids forced to help their families get by
- About 7 million of Turkiye’s roughly 22.2 million children live in poverty
The simple meal is all the family of six can look forward to most evenings. Atakan, his two younger brothers and 5-year-old sister are among the one-third of Turkish children living in poverty.
“Look at the state of my children,” said Rukiye Sahin, 28. “I have four children. They don’t get to eat chicken, they don’t get to eat meat. I send them to school with torn shoes.”
Persistently high inflation, triggered by currency depreciation and unconventional economic policies that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pursued but later abandoned, has left many families struggling to pay for food and housing. Experts say it’s creating a lost generation of children who have been forced to grow up too quickly to help their families eke out an existence.
According to a 2023 joint report by UNICEF and the Turkish Statistical Institute, about 7 million of Turkiye’s roughly 22.2 million children live in poverty.
That deprivation is brought into stark focus in neighborhoods such as Istanbul’s Tarlabasi, where the Sahin family lives just a few minutes’ walk from Istiklal Avenue, a tourism hot spot bristling with brightly lit shops and expensive restaurants.
Meanwhile, the Sahins eat sitting on the floor of their room — the same floor Rukiye and her husband sleep on while their children occupy the room’s sofas. In the chilly early December night, a stove burns scraps of wood to keep them warm. They sometimes fall asleep to the sound of rats scuttling through the building.
Atakan spends his days helping his father scour dumpsters in search of recyclable material to earn the family a meager income.
Poor children in Istanbul also earn money for their families by selling small items such as pens, tissues or bracelets at the bars and cafes in the city’s entertainment districts, often working late into the night.
“I can’t go to school because I have no money,” he said. “We have nothing. Can you tell me how I can go? On sunny days, when I don’t go to school, I collect plastic and other things with my father. We sell whatever we find.”
The cash helps buy basic foodstuffs and pay for his siblings to attend school. On the days Atakan can attend, he is ill-equipped to succeed, lacking proper shoes, a coat and textbooks for the English class he loves.
The Sahins struggle to scrape together the money to cover the rent, utilities and other basic expenses as Turkiye’s cost-of-living crisis continues to rage. Inflation stood at 47 percent in November, having peaked at 85 percent in late 2022. Prices of food and nonalcoholic drinks were 5.1 percent higher in November than in the previous month.
Under these circumstances, a generation of children is growing up rarely enjoying a full meal of fresh meat or vegetables.
Rukiye and her husband receive 6,000 lira ($173) per month in government welfare to help toward school costs, but they pay the same amount in rent for their home.
“My son says, ‘Mom, it’s raining, my shoes are soaking wet.’ But what can I do?” Rukiye said. “The state doesn’t help me. I’m in this room alone with my children. Who do I have except them?”
The picture of children rummaging through garbage to help support their families is far from the image Turkiye presents to the world: that of an influential world power with a vibrant economy favorable to foreign investment.
Erdogan is proud of the social programs his party has introduced since he came to power more than 20 years ago, boasting that the “old days of prohibitions, oppression, deprivation and poverty are completely behind us.”
Speaking at the G20 summit in November, Erdogan described Turkiye’s social security system as “one of the most comprehensive and inclusive” in the world. “Our goal is to ensure that not a single poor person remains. We will continue our work until we achieve this,” he said.
Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek, tasked with implementing austerity and taming inflation, said the 17,000 lira ($488) monthly minimum wage isn’t low. But he has pledged to raise it as soon as possible.
Although the government allocates billions of lira to struggling households, inflation, which most people agree is far above the official figure, eats into any aid the state can give.
In districts such as Tarlabasi, rents have risen five-fold in recent years due to gentrification in central Istanbul that puts pressure on the housing market for low-income families.
Experts say welfare payments aren’t enough for the millions who rely on them, forcing many parents to make impossible choices: Should they pay the rent or buy clothing for the children? Should they send them to school or keep them home to earn a few extra lira?
Volunteers are trying to ease the cycle of deprivation.
Mehmet Yeralan, a 53-year-old former restaurant owner, brings essentials to Tarlabasi’s poor people that they can’t afford, including coats, notebooks and the occasional bag of rice.
“Our children do not deserve this,” he said, warming himself by a barrel of burning scrap wood on the street. “Families are in very difficult situations. They cannot buy food for their children and send them to school. Children are on the streets, selling tissues to support their families. We are seeing deep poverty here.”
Hacer Foggo, a poverty researcher and activist, said Turkiye is raising a lost generation who are forced to drop out of school to work or are channeled into vocational programs where they work four days and study one day per week, receiving a small fraction of the minimum wage.
“Look at the situation of children,” she said. “Two million of them are in deep poverty. Child labor has become very common. Families choose these education-work programs because children bring in some income. It’s not a real education, just cheaper labor.”
Foggo points to research showing how early childhood education can help break cycles of poverty. Without it, children remain trapped — stunted physically and educationally, and condemned to lifelong disadvantages.
UNICEF placed Turkiye 38th out of 39 European Union or Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries in terms of child poverty between 2019 and 2021, with a child poverty rate of 34 percent.
The tragic consequences of this destitution occasionally burst into the public arena.
The deaths of five children in a fire in the western city of Izmir in November happened while their mother was out collecting scrap to sell. The image of their sobbing father, who was escorted from prison in handcuffs to attend his children’s funeral, caused widespread outrage at the desperation and helplessness facing poor families.
It is a situation Rukiye fully understands.
“Sometimes I go to bed hungry, sometimes I go to bed full,” she said. “We can’t move forward, we always fall behind. ... When you don’t have money in your hands, you always fall behind.”
Her eldest son, meanwhile, clings to his childhood dreams. “I want my own room,” Atakan said. “I want to go to school regularly. I want everything to be in order. … I’d like to be a football player one day, to support my family.”
Israeli military intercepts missile launched from Yemen, army says
- The Iran-backed Houthi group has repeatedly fired drones and missiles toward Israel in what it has described as acts of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
CAIRO: Israel’s military intercepted a missile early on Wednesday that was launched from Yemen and crossed into Israeli territory, the army said.
Sirens were activated due to the possibility of falling shrapnel from the interception, the army said in a statement.
Magen David Adom ambulance service said in a statement that it had received reports of approximately nine people injured on their way to the protected area.
“For the 5th time in a week, millions of Israelis were sent to shelter as Houthi terrorists in Yemen launched a missile attack,” the Israeli military said in a post on X.
The Iran-backed Houthi group has repeatedly fired drones and missiles toward Israel in what it has described as acts of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
Israeli military says a commander injured during operation in West Bank
CAIRO: The Israeli military said on Wednesday that a commander was moderately injured after his vehicle was hit by an explosive device during a “counter-terrorism” operation in the area of Tulkarm in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Israel probe finds troops’ presence led to killing of six Gaza hostages
- The military probe into their deaths found that Israeli “ground activities in the area, although gradual and cautious, had a circumstantial influence on the terrorists’ decision to murder the six hostages,” the army said in a statement on Tuesday
JERUSALEM: The Israeli army said on Tuesday it had concluded that military operations in southern Gaza likely led to the killing by Hamas of six hostages in August.
As the fighting churns on, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meanwhile said that an Israeli delegation returned from a “significant” round of talks in Qatar aiming to secure a truce and the release of dozens of hostages still held in the Gaza Strip.
In late August, after troops found the six hostages’ bodies in an underground shaft in Rafah, the military said they were killed just before soldiers reached them.
Netanyahu said at the time that the six — Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino — were “executed” with a bullet “to the head.”
The military probe into their deaths found that Israeli “ground activities in the area, although gradual and cautious, had a circumstantial influence on the terrorists’ decision to murder the six hostages,” the army said in a statement on Tuesday.
It said that “based on the investigation, the hostages were murdered by gunfire from Hamas terrorists” while Israeli forces were operating in the Tel Al-Sultan area.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum campaign group responded to the army’s statement by calling for action to bring back all remaining hostages.
“The time has come to bring back all the hostages. We need a deal that will ensure the return of all hostages within a quick and predetermined timeframe,” it said in a statement.
Indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, have taken place in Doha in recent days, rekindling hope of an agreement that has proven elusive.
On Monday, Netanyahu told parliament that there was “some progress” in the negotiations, and on Tuesday his office said Israeli negotiators had returned from Qatar after “significant negotiations.”
“The team is returning for internal consultations in Israel regarding the continuation of negotiations for the return of our hostages,” it added.
Hamas and other Palestinian groups have also reported progress this week toward a ceasefire.
The war was sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, during which militants seized 251 hostages.
Ninety-six of them are still held in Gaza, including 34 the army says are dead.
The attack resulted in 1,208 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 45,338 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable.
War-weary villages in Lebanon’s south find hope in Christmas festivities
- Despite ceasefire violations, a fragile calm in Lebanon allows Christian-majority villages to celebrate the festive season
- Municipalities in war-torn areas bordering Israel pledge to support locals in rebuilding their homes, restoring hope
DUBAI: After being caught in the crosshairs of the 13-month Hezbollah-Israel conflict, predominantly Christian border villages in southern Lebanon are cautiously optimistic as they celebrate the Christmas season and displaced families return home.
Earlier this month, municipalities adorned the streets of these villages with Christmas lights and decorations, expecting the festive atmosphere and a gradual return to normalcy to encourage more displaced residents to come back.
The economic toll of the war, which began as a spillover from the Hamas-Israel conflict in Gaza, has forced villages to scale back holiday preparations. However, mayors have vowed to preserve the Christmas spirit and pledged support for families recovering from the war’s devastating economic and social tolls.
On Oct. 7, 2023, militants from the Palestinian group Hamas carried out a surprise attack in southern Israel, resulting in 1,200 deaths and the abduction of 240 others. In retaliation, Israel launched a large-scale bombing campaign that has so far killed at least 45,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health authority.
Cross-border clashes started between the Lebanese group Hezbollah and the Israeli military on Oct. 8, 2023. Within less than a year, Israel launched a barrage of airstrikes across Lebanon. Over more than 13 months, the airstrikes have displaced more than 1.3 million people, according to UN figures, killed at least 4,000 Lebanese, and destroyed entire villages in southern Lebanon.
Ain Ebel, a Christian-majority village in southern Lebanon, is among the hardest-hit areas. Its residents were ordered by the Israeli military to evacuate ahead of the ground invasion on Oct. 1. However, the ceasefire agreement signed on Nov. 27 has offered a glimmer of hope.
Imad Lallous, the village’s mayor, said Ain Ebel is holding Christmas festivities — albeit on a smaller scale than in previous years — to celebrate the community’s resilience and hopes for a brighter future.
“We were worried that we would not be able to celebrate this year,” he told Arab News. “However, after the ceasefire and the return of Ain Ebel’s residents, it was impossible to let this holiday pass without celebrations, decorations, a Christmas tree, and Jesus Christ’s nativity scene.”
“We are working on restoring the joyful spirit in Ain Ebel,” he added.
The village, once alive with street celebrations, bustling church squares, and vibrant Christmas markets showcasing local products, has been overshadowed by the economic hardships of war in a country already grappling with a severe financial crisis since 2019.
Lallous called for community solidarity through donations to restore the spirit of Christmas and support families returning to their war-wrecked homes.
“There is serious damage to the houses, and we will see what we can do to help the owners repair or rebuild them,” he said.
“I hope we can celebrate Christmas and other holidays peacefully. I hope we don’t relive wars, destruction and bombardment anymore. I hope no one loses their home and everything they own. I hope this year’s war will be the last in the region.”
Located just a few miles from Lebanon’s border with Israel, Ain Ebel is currently home to 240 families. Lallous hopes the number will rise to 330 after the festive season. “This will boost the economic activity of shops and businesses,” he said.
He also believes the reopening of schools, a symbol of life returning to normal, could encourage those who relocated to Beirut to return to Ain Ebel.
“Classes resumed this week for attending students, but most of those receiving an education in Beirut will return to Ain Ebel’s school — College des Sœurs des Saint Coeurs — to continue their studies here.”
Christian-majority villages near the Israeli border have been badly affected by the hostilities, including Debel, Ain Ebel, Rmeich, and Al-Quzah in Bint Jbeil; Alma Shaab in Tyre District; and Deir Mimas and Qlayaa in Marjeyoun.
Several of these, namely Ain Ebel, Deir Mimas, Qlayaa, and Alma Shaab, were among the 27 areas ordered to evacuate.
And while some residents, including priests, refused to leave their homes, most fled north or to Beirut.
Since the ceasefire was announced on Nov. 27, more than 900,000 people have begun returning to their areas of origin, but nearly 179,000 remain displaced, according to UN figures.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri urged people to return to their homes in the south, even if it means having to “live on the rubble,” he said in a televised speech.
The 13-month war has partially or fully destroyed around 100,000 homes across Lebanon. The World Bank estimates the damage at approximately $8.5 billion, further deepening the country’s financial crisis.
Despite both Hezbollah and Israel accusing each other of violations, the ceasefire also represents a hopeful step toward a permanent cessation of hostilities and the enforcement of UN Resolution 1701, which called for a demilitarized zone, free of armed personnel except for the Lebanese army.
The US-brokered ceasefire agreement requires Israel to gradually withdraw its forces from southern Lebanon, to be replaced by Lebanese troops over 60 days. Hezbollah must also pull its forces north of the Litani River and dismantle its military infrastructure in the south.
Mayor Lallous said Christmas offers an opportunity to emphasize the solidarity and unity of the Lebanese people, countering fears of sectarian divisions sparked by mass displacement and the targeting of Christian villages.
“We have always lived peacefully together in our region and have not seen any divisions,” he said. “I hope the war we have experienced has not left any consequences here. We deal with our neighbors in a civilized way, and we wish we could always remain like this.”
He added: “We must be convinced that we need to seek our community’s well-being rather than society’s suffering.
“I hope the experience we have gone through will be a lesson for everyone so that we can move toward peace and family and keep our young people here instead of seeing them leave. I hope we won’t have to rebuild our homes in 10-15 years.”
Among the Christian areas that displayed deep solidarity during the war was Rmeich. The village, neighboring Ain Ebel, sheltered hundreds of displaced Lebanese — both Shiite Muslims and Christians — from other villages in the region at a local monastery.
Others, including those who fled from Ain Ebel, found refuge in fellow villagers’ homes.
Miled Alam, mayor of Rmeich, said: “Lebanon cannot rise without the participation of all its sects, communities and religions.
“Since its establishment, Lebanon has been made up of several sects, and nobody can eliminate the other,” he told Arab News. “All its components can, together, build a new Lebanon that relies on hope, its culture, state, institutions, and judiciary.”
Emphasizing the importance of celebrating Christmas this year, Alam expressed hope that all of Rmeich’s more than 8,000 residents would attend the festivities, along with those from the nearby villages of Ain Ebel and Debel.
“The occurrence of war does not mean we will not carry out customs, traditions, and religious rituals,” he said. “Last year, we celebrated amidst the war and bombardment.”
“We also organized an event for the children in the church square, rang the bells, prayed and held masses.”
Rmeich, while maintaining a sense of safety with its schools remaining open, still felt the effects of war. Commercial activities came to a halt, and residents faced severe shortages of food and essential resources.
“People were left without work for 14 months and zero productivity. Those who had small sums of money had to spend them,” Alam said.
Rmeich is known for its red-tiled houses, nestled among green hills renowned for tobacco cultivation.
Alam noted that Christian festivities aim to bring hope and joy to families who have suffered and lost during the war. He promised to find ways to support those in pain.
“Despite all these circumstances, we will identify means through which we can help them and stand by them,” he said.
“We will bring joy to their hearts, as this is the least we can do after the resilience they demonstrated over the course of 14 months.”
