Michael Jansen

Michael Jansen

Middle East Correspondent

Michael Jansen is Middle East correspondent for the Irish Times.

People run down a street in the city of Deir al-Zor, in eastern Syria, Photograph: Reuters/Khalil Ashawi
Syrian army seizes rebel stronghold

Assad’s forces take Qusayr, a strategic town on smuggling route used by rebels

An employee counts Syrian pound notes at the Syrian central bank in Damascus. The Syrian pound has lost about 60 per cent of its value against the US dollar in two years. Photograph: Reuters/Khaled al-Hariri
Trading continues in Syria despite conflict

Economy has shrunk by an estimated 35-40 per cent

A Free Syrian Army fighter fires his sniper rifle from a house in Aleppo on August 14th, 2012. Photograph: Reuters
Troops repulse rebel attack on Aleppo prison

Facility said to hold 4,000 prisoners, including 250 insurgents

A Syrian woman and her son in an alley in the Old City of Damascus, where an area covering 12 blocks was declared a peace zone in which no fighting was permitted: Photograph: Joseph Eid/AFP/Getty Images
Damascus ‘peace zone’ at centre of attempts to rebuild Syria’s tolerant civil society

Forum for National Harmony works with all sides to resolve conflict

A Lebanese man inspects the damage after a rocket coming from Syria fell on his house in the town of Hermel, a few kilometres from Baalbek in the Bekaa valley, on April 26th, 2013. Photograph: AFP/Getty
Caught in the crossfire in a hillside region a few kilometres from Syria

A small town in Lebanon finds itself drawn into the neighbouring war

Syrian information minister Omran Zoabi: said Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan should “step down as a killer and a butcher”. Photograph: Khaled al-Hariri
Syria denies having hand in Turkey bombings

Tensions simmer in wake of attacks as Damascus accuses Ankara of stoking conflict

The bombings that killed dozens in the Turkish city of Reyhanli on Saturday later expose the violent risks of spillover into neighbouring countries posed by the Syrian conflict. Photograph: Reuters/Umit Bektas
Risk of Syrian spillover on all four frontiers exposed

Analysis: Neighbouring countries are getting embroiled in the Syrian conflict

Mairead Maguire and her colleagues have come to provide moral support to peacemakers of the non-denominational National Reconciliation movement. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill
Praying for peace in Damascus while surrounded by war

Nobel laureate Mairead Maguire visiting Syria with other peace activists

A convoy formed by a delegation of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent carry humanitarian aid as they drive in Aleppo’s countryside. Photograph: Reuters
Syrian Arab Red Crescent struggles with crossfire and scarce supplies to bring aid

A grassroots body of 3,000 volunteers helps Syrians of every allegiance

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