Wouldn’t it be ironic if the popular awakening sweeping the Middle East had the unintended effect of undermining the one established Arab democracy?

Dexter Filkins on how Syria’s War brought down Lebanese Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, who resigned on Friday: http://nyr.kr/YAb5YA

Photograph by Moises Saman/Magnum.

The Syrian war looks, too, like dusty shoes spilling out of a cardboard box by the open door of a deserted, partially destroyed home in a town that, like many, is devoid of civilians. The box is near a child’s black-ink drawing on the wall, of a helicopter. There are a little girl’s white sneakers with blue butterflies near a woman’s black wedge-heeled slipper, a man’s lace-up dress shoes, and a toddler’s orange patent-leather sandals. Things are in their place; their owners are gone. It also looks like things that are out of place, like a kitchen sink in somebody’s grassy, rubble-carpeted garden. The Syrian war looks like the millions of people who have become refugees or are internally displaced. It looks like others who say they’d rather die in their homes than live off of handouts in a tent…

What does the Syrian war look like? What does it sound like? Rania Abouzeid reflects on the past two years in Syria: http://nyr.kr/13YWmKL

Photograph by Moises Saman/Magnum.

Jon Lee Anderson on Richard Engel’s return and the risks of reporting in Syria: http://nyr.kr/Ubagng

It is a hornet’s nest of potential betrayals…

Will Bashar al-Assad use chemical weapons against his own people? Jon Lee Anderson on why the international community should pay attention to the Syrian sarin threat: http://nyr.kr/TL3h15

Photograph by Moises Saman/Magnum.

Will Turkey go to war with Syria? Jenna Krajeski on recent events that have increased tension between the former allies: http://nyr.kr/VppHow

Photograph: Akcakale, Turkey, on October 3rd. Anatolia/AP

More than two hundred thousand Syrian families have fled their country to escape the ongoing bloodshed that began in March of last year, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, most of them seeking refuge in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq. Among the photographers who have captured the plight of these Syrians in their new settings are Shawn Baldwin and Ayman Oghanna, each of whom has documented refugee camps along the Syrian-Turkish border.

Click-through for more from Faisal Sabbagh Baldwin and Oghanna, and to see a selection of their photographs: http://nyr.kr/S9gouB

(Source: newyorker.com)

Soon after the filmmaker Orwa Nyrabia was abducted by the Syrian military, on August 23rd, filmmakers all over the world protested his detention. Martin Scorsese issued a statement calling for his release; that was followed by a campaign by more than a hundred international filmmakers to call attention to Nyrabia’s detention.

…Today, Nyrabia is free again.

Watch the video that filmmakers across the world created to call for Nyrabia’s  release, and click-through to read more from Lawrence Wright: http://nyr.kr/O1r1Au

“If there were ever gloves on in the regime’s response to unrest, they have now definitely come off.”

Jon Lee Anderson on the war against Syria’s civilians: http://nyr.kr/OyOLqv

Read more from Jon Lee Anderson about the Syrian conflict.

Photograph by Shaam News Network/AP Photo.

In this week’s issue, Jon Lee Anderson writes of Syria’s descent into civil war.  With Anderson in Syria was photographer Moises Saman.  From their outpost in Azaz, and on a brief foray into Aleppo city, Saman captured in stark and heartbreaking detail the devastation that has been meted out to the country’s citizens.  Click-through for a look at Saman’s work: http://nyr.kr/ND9OwG