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People-Smugglers-TikTok

People Smugglers in Syria Take to TikTok

Fearing conscription by the Assad regime? Want to start a new life in Europe? 

Surf online a bit, and you’ll find that a quick chat with the right people might just solve your problem. 

Human smugglers in Syria have taken increasingly to the social media app TikTok in recent months to advertise their services, which include “traveling without borders” in luxury vehicles that breeze through the military checkpoints dotting the mountain highway from Damascus to Beirut.

Protestors-Yangon-2021

Myanmar Security Forces Using Western Surveillance Tech Against Civilians

Myanmar security forces appear to be using surveillance technology sourced from European and North American companies against civilians who have spent months protesting against a military coup.

Protestors barricaded a street in Yangon on March 27, 2021, in a showdown with police who used live ammunition and tear gas. (Credit: Sipa USA/Alamy)

Kafr-Nabl-Syria-Top

Syria’s Reconstruction Tax Props up the Assad Regime

Um Ahmed left everything when she and her four children fled their home in Daraya, south of Damascus — toys scattered around all corners of the house, the certificates she earned when she qualified as a pharmacist.

Kafr Nabl, Syria. 20th May, 2019. Syrians inspect the destruction left by overnight air strikes targeting residential areas at Kafr Nabl in the rebel-held Idlib province in May 2019. (Credit: Anas Alkharboutli/dpa/Alamy)