Border Country

Turkey/Syria, Nov 2005: Hatay– Turkey’s southernmost province- has changed dramatically since my visit to the area in late 2005. Near the border town of Reyhanli there is a huge refugee camp for the thousands of Syrian’s who have managed to escape over the nearby border to safety- and other camps scattered throughout the province. Locals […]

Krak des Chevaliers

Krak des Chevaliers, Syria, 2005: A farmer walks his cows past the imposing walls of the 1000 year old Krak des Chevaliers. The castle, originally built in 1031 for the emir of Aleppo, became one of the most strategic fortresses of the Crusades by controlling the road to the Mediterranean. In 2006 Krak des Chevaliers […]

LVT

Tartus, Syria, 2005: The French legacy in Syria is still apparent 60 odd years later… France occupied Syria and Lebanon between the First and Second World Wars, after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. French is still widely spoken in the region, particularly in Lebanon. I think La Vieille means “old woman” -or just old. The […]

Tartus

Tartus, Syria, 2005: A rusted mural of the al-Assad’s adorns a wall of an old mill in the seaside town of Tartus. The al-Assad dynasty of father dictator, Hafez (president 1971-2000); eldest son Basil, (groomed as successor- but killed in a car accident in 1994): and youngest son (and current dictator) Bashar, are also known […]