Rasha Elass

Warplanes, high security and fear characterized an election in Syria that many observers -- and voters -- called a sham.

In what is widely viewed as a sham election, Syria's Assad faces two opponents after four years of civil war.

Women in Arab countries typically have few protections against sexual abuse; for Syrian refugees in Lebanon, it's worse.

June 3 is election day, but everybody in Syria already knows who will win. The question is, How much more war can they take?

On Earth Day, the focus is on the planet's health. Nowhere is that more evident than on the ground in the Arctic.

A young woman in Syria tries to find love the traditional way. But with a civil war going on, marriage is another casualty of the conflict.

In Syria's capital, merchants caught between rebels and the regime try to do business as usual. Amid the civil war, that's not working.

After three years of civil war, many Syrians find that mindless cell-phone games provide much-needed distraction.

The siege of Homs has led to a ceasefire and evacuation, and those fighting on opposite sides have found themselves next to the enemy.

Schoolchildren across the Arab world learn rules that make little sense, and this disconnect from reality turns into political conflicts later.

The Syrian president appears to be winning, even as photos surface of thousands of Syrian corpses.

During the Lebanese civil war of the 1970s, Rasha Elass escaped to Syria in her family's hired taxi. Now she ponders a grim future there.

In some parts of Damascus, people have begun fearing government soldiers and supporters, who just take things with impunity.

Pressure Cooker, a Syrian rock band in Beirut, taps themes common to youths across the Arab world.

When you are a Syrian fleeing the war, life in the country next door isn't easy. And sometimes it's violent, bizarre, and with a happy ending.

Rasha Elass writes a first-person account of what it’s like to be a woman covering the Syrian civil war.

In one Damascus district, rebels have taken over apartment buildings to dig a network of underground tunnels for fighting regime troops.

After Obama assured the world America would wait for diplomacy before hitting Syria, Damascenes celebrated, but the sadness of war lurked.

As the world debates intervention, one Damascus family’s routine reflects the nation’s turmoil and dread.

“I’ve never heard of someone declaring a military strike and then going off to talk about it,” one mystified Syrian said.

Damascenes have seen a lot of war and death in years of civil war, but never a missile raid. Syria's government is doing little to prepare them.

Unlike its peers in Syria and Egypt, the Lebanese military is cozying up to its citizens with “Be a Commando for a Day” exercises.

For a reporter covering the war in Syria, there's a sense that everyone in Damascus shares the same uncertainty.

Many in Damascus welcome the expected attack but wonder what the outcome will be and how they can prepare for it.

Among thousands of Syrians displaced by civil war, a lucky few are ensconced in an artists’ colony in the mountain town of Aley, Lebanon.

Syrians who have fled their civil war by taking refuge in Lebanon face a population that is increasingly disturbed by their presence.

As the Egyptian army overthrew the government, Syrians mused: "What if...?", while their president had a very different take.

The conventional wisdom is that Syria's civil war is now a sectarian religious war. But many Syrians say the sectarians don't belong there.

Getting to Beirut from Damascus used to be easy. Now it's a torturous slog, and it does not guarantee leaving the conflict behind.