logo
episode-header-image
Jun 2022
55m 9s

The Syrian civil war

Bbc World Service
About this episode
Max Pearson introduces first-hand accounts of the 2013 chemical weapons attack in Syria and the opening of a refugee camp for Syrians fleeing the civil war. Plus, how lynching was finally outlawed in America, the opening of the Sydney Opera House and the Queen's coronation. PHOTO: A UN inspector at work in Ghouta, Syria in August 2013 (Reuters) 
Up next
Oct 4
India's nine day tea strike and the birth of the Excel spreadsheet
Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History episodes.Tea expert Sabita Banerji talks about the history of tea in India. We look back at how women teapickers in 2015 fought for justice - and improved the lives of thousands of tea plantation workers.We hear the ... Show More
59m 20s
Sep 27
The origins of Indian cinema and the start of Scouting
Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History episodes taking us from India to Texas. Professor Sunny Singh, author of A Bollywood State of Mind, discusses the origins of Indian cinema in 1912. And we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the release of Bollywood ro ... Show More
1 h
Sep 20
The fight against sexual harassment in Egypt and Omar Sharif enters the world stage
Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History episodes, all with an Egyptian theme.We find out more about the 2014 fight against sexual harassment. And we hear from Professor Nicola Pratt, an expert on Middle East feminism about the significance of that moment i ... Show More
59m 58s
Recommended Episodes
Jun 2022
Sarin attack in Syria
In 2013, more than a thousand people are thought to have died in a chemical weapons attack on a suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus called Ghouta. It was the single deadliest attack of the Syrian civil war and the UN later confirmed that the nerve agent Sarin had been used. Lou ... Show More
8m 58s
May 2023
The rehabilitation of Syria’s President Assad
This week a meeting of Arab foreign ministers - including Syria's - took place in Jordan's capital, Amman. Officials have been discussing Syria's potential return to the Arab League, after 12 years of civil war. Hundreds of thousands of Syrians are dead, millions are refugees abr ... Show More
48m 59s
Nov 2014
The Syria Vote
In August 2013 the Assad regime in Syria was accused of deploying chemical weapons against its own civilian population. President Obama – who had described the use of chemical weapons as a “red line” – was planning airstrikes against the Syrian government. In Britain, Prime Minis ... Show More
27 m
Jan 2022
Hunting Syria's war criminals
Imagine walking down a street in a European capital and meeting your torturer. For many Syrian refugees fleeing war and human rights abuses, Europe was meant to be a sanctuary. So it was a shock when people began bumping into their torturers out shopping or in a cafe. In fact man ... Show More
27m 20s
Jan 2022
Hunting Syria's War Criminals
Imagine walking down a street in a European capital and meeting your torturer. For many Syrian refugees fleeing war and human rights abuses, Europe was meant to be a sanctuary. So it was a shock when people began bumping into their torturers out shopping or in a cafe. In fact man ... Show More
29m 15s
May 2013
The debate over intervention in Syria
The death toll in Syria is now estimated at a horrifying 70,000, and the pressure on the United States to intervene is mounting, particularly with the suggestion that the Syrian government may have used chemical weapons. Geoff Dyer in Washington and Abigail Fielding-Smith in Beir ... Show More
9m 56s
May 2021
Syria: Failed state or narco-state?
How ten years of conflict have destroyed the country's economy. As Syria prepares for largely symbolic elections to re-elect its President Bashar Al-Assad next week, we look at how ten years of conflict have destroyed the country's economy. Ed Butler looks at the growing evidence ... Show More
18m 26s
Sep 2022
Making Friends with a Murderer: Normalising with the Assad regime
Last week, the Palestinian group Hamas announced that they would reconcile with the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad.The announcement marks a change in the policy of the Palestinian group, who in 2012 offered support to the Syrian rebels that were seeking to throw Assad from offi ... Show More
29m 38s
Sep 2023
Syria's broken economy
We hear from people protesting in the government-controlled city of Sweida.Criticism of President Bashar al-Assad has been growing in Sweida since demonstrations began in mid-August over the removal of fuel subsidies. It's the latest measure that has put a strain on people suffer ... Show More
17m 28s
Mar 2021
10 years on, Syrians hope for justice – in Germany
The first trial of crimes against humanity in Syria is taking place — but not at the International Criminal Court. 10 years after the first protests in Syria, a tiny spark of accountability has been lit, with the trial of two Syrians who first came to Germany seeking asylum. On t ... Show More
18m 39s
Listen to millions of songs and podcasts on Anghami