[Idlib] Since the beginning of popular protests against the deposed Syrian regime in 2011 and the development of the conflict into armed strife, women in Syria have played a significant role in conveying the realities of events to Arab and even global communities.
Syrian female journalists were present in the field under highly complex security conditions in a society unaccustomed to seeing Syrian women as field reporters. They became guardians of truth, away from bias or misinformation.
Activist journalist Sanaa Al-Ali said she can barely recall how it started, due to the overwhelming events she has covered over the years of conflict, which she says culminated in the fall of the regime and President-dictator Bashar Assad’s escape from Syria to Russia.
"I found myself as an activist journalist tasked with conveying the image, voice and pain,” Al-Ali stated, recounting her displacement journey in 2012, which continued until the fall of Assad.
Al-Ali recalls how she was displaced from her home in Aleppo city in early 2012, fearing the security grip and arrest, moving to live in rural Idlib. "There, in Idlib, I had neither a house, furniture, nor a source of livelihood with my three children. It was necessary to take a clear stand as the regime declared its war on us in every way – from intimidation to detention, to sporadic bombings and deploying its army across towns and cities," she says.
Amid the targeting of civilians by Russian and Syrian regime aircraft, Al-Ali decided to become an activist, using her Facebook account to report on massacres. As she describes, this was the beginning of making her a journalist who would convey the people's voice.
With the escalation of events in Syria and the growing need to support and empower journalists, journalism training courses spread rapidly in Syria. Syrian female journalists were notably among those who attended.
Alongside her news reporting, Al-Ali began taking a course in first aid. Working in the medical field exposes practitioners to numerous injuries, so she started reporting some incidents through the media. She wrote about a child killed by a Syrian regime airstrike in Idlib. This story earned her first place in a journalism competition.
Today, despite their difficulties, Al-Ali reflects on the years that have passed. "My ambitions never stopped. Curiosity led me to train in photography and report preparation, and I was selected among many to become a correspondent for the Syrian agency SY+ from 2019 until now," she explains.
Given the sacrifices they have made in media and other fields, Al-Ali hopes that female journalists in Syria will secure an important role in the country's future.
Working as a journalist in Syria was not easy for women, especially amid the complexities of the Syrian situation. After Aleppo fell to the Syrian regime in 2016 and hundreds of thousands were displaced to Idlib, that phase remains unforgettable for Syrians and the world, given the harsh displacement scenes broadcast by media outlets.
Under challenging circumstances, Salwa Abdul Rahman faced a significant responsibility to be both a mother and father to her three children after her husband’s death.
"At the beginning of the revolution, my media participation was limited due to the dangerous security situation in Aleppo. However, after being displaced from Aleppo, I started working more extensively," she said.
"I used to see checkpoints and restrictions. The regime treated us poorly; there were tanks in the cities. My role was limited to reporting facts and documenting events in Aleppo,” Rahman said, recalling her life before Aleppo fell and her husband died in early 2015.
This left her solely responsible for three children amid war and displacement. She expanded her journalism work, writing and transmitting reports and news stories to the world.
Rahman worked as a correspondent for a television channel, continuing to write and striving to enhance her skills in producing media reports. She studied journalism ethics and emphasized that "working on the ground provides broader and greater experiences."
Regarding the difficulties she faced, she said: "Women’s work in field journalism in Syria is inherently challenging due to the complexities of the Syrian scene, including bombing, arrest, kidnapping and numerous restrictions. However, I, like many Syrian women, challenged these circumstances and persisted in writing and working until this regime fell."
However, the current phase is even more challenging, according to Rahman, who believes that access to information has become more difficult during this period due to some journalists monopolizing news due to their proximity to the current government. This undermines journalism and warns of an unfortunate monopoly on information.
Similarly, Rana Totenji (not her real name) was displaced from Aleppo after years of journalistic work documenting events through sound and image. She began a new journey in Idlib and Afrin.
"My beginnings were in 2013 when I covered news in newspapers. In 2015-2016, after being displaced from Aleppo, I became a field reporter for the Syrian channel Al-Jisr, which I have continued to do until now. I have also worked with Radio and TV Al-Kul and the Hibr newspaper," she said.
Totenji did not limit herself to journalism. She published two literary novels about Syria, discussing the revolution, camps, displacement, shelling and Damascus. She also runs a media institution that produces journalistic reports and organizes training courses in photography and television presentation.
The path has not been paved with roses for Syrian female journalists. They faced arrest, persecution and death at the hands of the ousted Syrian regime and other warring parties in Syria.
The Syrian Center for Press Freedoms at the Syrian Journalists Association documented 47 violations against female journalists (both Syrian and foreign) in Syria from 2011 to the end of 2024.
Mohammed Al-Sattouf, director of the Documentation and Monitoring Unit at the Press Freedoms Center, stated that seven female journalists, including two foreign journalists, were killed in Syria, and 10 were injured, among them two foreign journalists.
Al-Sattouf said that "the majority of violations against female journalists were of the nature of arrest, detention and kidnapping." The center documented 18 such cases over various years, with the highest number occurring in 2016 when four arrests were made. Four of these cases involved the arrest and detention of foreign female journalists in Syria.
All 18 cases ended with the journalists’ release, except for journalist Samar Al-Saleh, whose fate remains unknown. Other violations included bans on work, security persecutions, threats and more.
According to the Syrian Center for Press Freedoms reports, the ousted Syrian regime was responsible for 13 of the documented violations against female journalists. The Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its affiliated security and military apparatus were responsible for 13 as well. The Syrian opposition (now in power) committed six violations, while the perpetrators of five violations remain unknown (unknown individuals or entities). Additionally, Turkish authorities were responsible for three violations, as was ISIS, while Hayat Tahrir al-Sham committed two violations against female journalists.
Reviewing Syrian female journalists' activities from 2011 until the fall of the Syrian regime, it is evident that they began to work strongly alongside Syrian youth and activists in media, politics and relief efforts. However, the emergence of ISIS in 2013, coupled with its execution of journalists, led to a noticeable decline in journalistic activity (according to the Syrian Journalists Association). This trend reversed in 2017 and peaked with the fall of the regime.
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The Syrian Journalists Association, established in exile in 2012, said in a statement that: "Since the start of the Syrian revolution, female journalists have faced multiple risks, including death, arrest, fleeing from place to place to avoid detention and abuse. The most challenging aspect of their work was documenting violations against civilians, moving between neighborhoods through security and military checkpoints, and navigating streets occupied by snipers. Journalistic work within regime-held areas was fraught with difficulty until some areas in Daraa were liberated, after which the danger of airstrikes intensified. Many female journalists worked under pseudonyms to protect their families in regime-controlled areas."
Today, many Syrian female journalists demand a prominent role in shaping Syria's future. After years of work resembling professional journalism, they highlight women's sacrifices at the expense of their homes and families. As Rana and her colleagues expressed, they believe the homeland belongs to everyone and that everyone must contribute to rebuilding it.
First published: 23:08, 01.05.25