Hungry for Peace

The information gathered was collected by field researchers inside Syria and by
researchers outside, who conducted Skype interviews with those people inside Syria
involved in the deal-making process. In total, 45 respondents were interviewed.
Some of the researchers themselves had previously brokered several deals and
taken part in mediating some others. Secondary sources – such as media, United
Nations and international non-government organization (INGO) reports, government
statements etc. – were relied on to cross-references details.
In preparing this report, the authors examined more than 35 different local
negotiations in different parts of Syria, between October 2011 and the present time.
We present some of these as case studies, focusing on Homs, the Damascus
countryside, Ras al-Ain and the provision of services in Dara’a and Aleppo.
By investigating the varied landscape of the Syrian conflict the report shows that
while in some areas of the country the level of violence is very high, there are large
parts of the country where efforts to achieve local ceasefires have taken place, with
some degree of success. In particular, areas in which there are still large numbers of
civilians and an active civil society are more likely to have developed bottom-up
peace-making mechanisms.