Lost for words to be shortlisted for "young journalist of the year" for this year’s Society of Editors Media Freedom Awards, for my work in Syria. Just one of two (@parrytom.bsky.social 👋) freelancers out of 76! What an honour to be alongside these incredible reporters - especially Malak in Gaza.

Brutal clarity in this FT mapping of Israel’s Gaza relocation plan: crushing two million civilians into a tiny strip of land and drip-feeding them aid, producing conditions that will be unbearable at best and deadly at worst. Aditi Bhandari & Mehul Srivastava, @financialtimes.com on.ft.com/4mHB7rm

My latest from Syria in today’s Sunday Times: Abdul Hamid survived a sarin attack – only to find his wife and baby twins gassed to death in their bomb shelter. Please read his story as the long hunt for Assad’s stockpile of chemical weapons begins. www.thetimes.com/article/01f5...

Really important piece published by @rachelhagan.bsky.social on the state of Syria's healthcare. www.thetimes.com/article/073e...

Once a thriving Palestinian neighbourhood, Yarmouk, in southern Damascus, obliterated by Assad and his forces. After reporting on Syria remotely for years, nothing could have prepared me for the extent of the devastation in person - it goes on for miles.

Freelancer @rachelhagan.bsky.social recently undertook a HEFAT course with atr-ltd.co.uk. Rachel had this to say about the experience, "The course made me realise how unprepared I had been for high-risk travel, how blindly I went into Iraq despite considering the risks."

Since the tax year ends in two days (and I spent the day crunching numbers), I thought I’d reflect on my first full year as a freelance journalist. I left The Mirror almost exactly when the last tax year ended, so this marks a complete year both financially and professionally.

Starting next month, the WFP will slash its food rations for #Rohingya in Cox's Bazar, #Bangladesh from $12 to just $6 per person. "We are solely dependent on food rations – it is like losing our right hand." Read more from @rachelhagan.bsky.social service95.com/rohingya-cri...

Journalist İsmail Saymaz also detained in Turkey today, two days after his passport was confiscated. He is accused of, among other things, "shar[ing] numerous posts" about the Gezi Park protests of 2013 "on his personal social media accounts".

“Dilek İmamoğlu, the mayor’s wife, told a television station that police had arrived at their home as they finished the pre-dawn meal of sahur during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan and that he was taken away at about 7:30am.” on.ft.com/4iAUT5j

how did ICE know where to find Mahmoud Khalil, and who will they go after next? I wrote about the vast surveillance network that powers ICE arrests, and the Zionist groups making deportation wishlists for the agency: www.theverge.com/policy/62718...

Monumental development: agreement signed by Sharaa and 'Abdi incl. recognition of Kurdish (and all Syrians) citizenship rights in Syria, complete ceasefire, integration of civil/mil institutions, return of IDPs, SDF support vs regime remnants. Implementation committees to follow t.me/G_CSyriaa/593

If you don’t know Arabic, the main terms of the deal are that Abdi will grow a beard, Sharaa will look into Murray Bookchin and see if he likes it, and Syrians of all religions and ethnicities will be chased around by an all-female religious police.

This #InternationalWomensDay, MAG #Ukraine team leader, Marharyta, shares her story with @rachelhagan.bsky.social for Service95. Read here ➡️

An Alawite in Latakia tells me: "They entered our home. We were scared because they were masked. They were using sectarian language and insulting Alawites even though most of the people of this sect support deescalation and don't accept the actions of the remnants of the regime."

On IWD, there will be speeches and hashtags. But for the millions of women trapped in war zones, what they need is not words; it is action. Aid that reaches them. Accountability for their abusers. A seat at the table where their futures are decided. My latest: www.service95.com/impact-of-wa...

Just spent the week in a field (under glorious blue skies) learning how not to die (among many other valuable skills!) in hostile environments. The courses are prohibitively expensive for freelancers, so I was V thrilled to be awarded a grant from @rorypecktrust.bsky.social , huge thank you🙏

This is the year the world was meant to be mine-free. Instead, these lethal weapons are still being made and used. In soil stained by the legacy of genocide, they continue to claim lives and limbs. My long read for @telglobalhealth.bsky.social from Cambodia. www.telegraph.co.uk/global-healt...

‘A first mistake is a last mistake’: The delicate art of clearing landmines. Cambodia’s deminers are among the world’s most experienced. But America’s decision to freeze foreign aid has paralysed clearance operations. @rachelhagan.bsky.social reports. www.telegraph.co.uk/global-healt...

Total betrayal of Ukraine, time for Europe to step up - US has suspended all military aid to Ukraine, White House official says, in wake of Trump-Zelenskyy row www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

Amid the destruction of Syria’s war, one place prospered. Here’s my story from Idlib about how a former forgotten backwater under Islamist rebel rule became a buzzing commercial hub: www.wsj.com/world/middle...

Big news, which as @ruthmichaelson.com says, is "set to ripple across factions of Kurdish armed groups spread across NE Syria and northern Iraq with links to the PKK, particularly the US-backed SDF who battled IS and remain in control of a swath of territory." www.theguardian.com/world/2025/f...

The majestic Lamassu in the British Museum who once guarded Ashurnasirpal II’s throne room in Nimrud, Iraq. Looked on awe and also served as a great reminder to keep questioning how and why such artefacts are here.

An apt moment for a remarkable piece of journalism, documenting Russia’s seemingly systematic murder of Ukrainian PoWs. (By @christopherjm.ft.com @joesinft.ft.com & the visual investigations team) on.ft.com/4gLNn61

Exclusive: 23 health centres in Idlib & Aleppo, including 2 maternity hospitals & 3 refugee camp clinics, have shuttered since Trump’s aid freeze. For all the critiques of USAID, claiming that turning off incubators in Syria is for good is cruel at best. More here: www.service95.com/usaid-freeze...

Israeli police raid Jerusalem bookshops and arrest Palestinian owners

I'm thrilled to be accepted on @wijuk.bsky.social's mentor scheme & be paired with ex-Reuters Bureau Chief Emma Thomasson. As a freelancer, I’ve longed for guidance, so I'm truly grateful and excited. P.S. If you didn't get in—this was my second try! Not everything is as it seems on social media.

Breaking news: Israel and Hamas have agreed to a deal to halt the war in Gaza and free the remaining hostages, raising hopes of an end to the bloodiest round of fighting in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict’s history www.ft.com/content/e35b...

@financialtimes.com's Sarah Dadouch on influx of foreign goods to Syria after new government lifts restrictions on access to foreign currency and import duties, with which Assad government had attempted to preserve limited foreign exchange and raise revenue: www.ft.com/content/a1d0...

While US & EU have long-insisted that their sanctions did not target Syria's health system, in reality, they helped strangle it nonetheless. This had devastating consequences for ordinary people as the regime continued living in luxury. Our report. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

Mishal Husain’s last day on #r4today this morning. She’s the best of their presenters by far in my opinion. Capable of balance, & of rigorous, devastating interviews, without ever getting shrill, or hectoring & speaking over her interviewees. A real loss for the BBC.

Must watch Channel 4 report on the mass graves in Syria, with over 100,000 dead estimated to be buried in just one site. The challenge to forensically document these sites will be huge. www.channel4.com/news/true-sc...

Bashar al-Assad speaks for the first time. In a post on the Syrian presidency's Telegram channel, he shows neither remorse nor any sense of responsibility, stating that at no point did he “consider stepping down." www.independent.co.uk/news/world/m...

Such beautiful writing from @leloveluck.bsky.social: 'A geography of loss runs through the city, in the bullet-scared buildings of the east and the empty church pews and bread lines of the west.' A gift link to read here: wapo.st/4iCk5ZG

Amazing reporting: Assad lied to his staff about fleeing. He wanted refuge in the UAE, but it was declined. Didn't tell his brother about his plans, nor his two cousins —one of whom was shot dead. Asma and 3 kids were already waiting in Moscow and more wild details: www.reuters.com/world/middle...

An important time to be a subscriber to Charles Lister’s newsletter: “If advances continue into a 4th day and Aleppo itself falls, serious instability could develop elsewhere. Assad’s position has arguably never been more vulnerable at any point over the past 13 years” www.syriaweekly.com

As the fragile ceasefire settles over Lebanon, remnants of relentless Israeli airstrikes and artillery fire lay scattered among shattered homes and in olive groves. My latest for The New Arab including an interview with Lebanese delegation at the summit in Cambodia www.newarab.com/features/une...

I’m in Cambodia for the Review Conference for the Ottawa Convention (landmine ban) treaty. A privilege to have dinner beneath Bayon Temple in Angkor Wat. But pomp aside, hopes of a landmine-free world have been seriously stymied due to conflicts in Syria, Ukraine & Myanmar etc.