Syria at night
TURKEY
Raqqa
Aleppo
Deir al-Zour
SYRIA
Homs
LEBANON
IRAQ
Damascus
March
2012
JORDAN
Syria at night
TURKEY
SYRIA
IRAQ
March
2012
JORDAN
TURKEY
Raqqa
Aleppo
Deir al-Zour
SYRIA
Homs
LEBANON
IRAQ
Damascus
December
2014
JORDAN
TURKEY
SYRIA
IRAQ
December
2014
JORDAN
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
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 that began in August last year.
Raqqa
Raqqa
Deir al-Zour
Deir al-Zour
SYRIA
SYRIA
IRAQ
IRAQ
March 2012
Dec. 2014
Raqqa
Raqqa
Deir al-Zour
Deir al-Zour
SYRIA
SYRIA
IRAQ
IRAQ
March 2012
Dec. 2014
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
TURKEY
Aleppo
Raqqa
SYRIA
LEBANON
IRAQ
Damascus
100 miles
JORDAN
ISRAEL
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
TURKEY
Raqqa
Aleppo
Areas held by pro-
government forces
Homs
SYRIA
Damascus
IRAQ
Dara’a
JORDAN
100 miles
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
TURKEY
Areas under
ISIS control
Raqqa
Aleppo
Natural gas
pipeline
Homs
Oil pipeline
SYRIA
Damascus
IRAQ
JORDAN
100 miles
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
TURKEY
Kurdish forces
Raqqa
Aleppo
Areas held by other
opposition groups
Homs
SYRIA
Damascus
IRAQ
JORDAN
100 miles
Other Opposition Groups
In September, the 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.
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.
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
TURKEY
1.7 million refugees
SYRIA
7.6 million internally
displaced
LEBANON
1.2 million
refugees
IRAQ
245,000
refugees
JORDAN
625,000
50 miles
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.