Syrian born reporter Lina Sinjab presents a special series from Assignment’s award winning archive on the 10 years of civil war in her country.

This week an extraordinary story from 2016, reported by Mike Thomson, about a secret library stored in the basement of a crumbling house in the besieged Syrian town of Darayya. The library was home to thousands of books rescued from bombed-out buildings by local volunteers, who daily braved snipers and shells to fill its shelves. 

In the town gripped by hunger and death after three years without food aid, Mike Thomson revealed how this literary sanctuary proved a lifeline to a community shattered by war. And now, 10 years on, Mike brings Lina up to date on the fate of some of those volunteers. 

Produced by Michael Gallagher and additional research and translation by Mariam El Khalaf.

(Image: 14 year-old Chief Librarian Amjad in the Secret Library, Credit: Daraya Council Media Team)

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Syria’s decade of conflict: Syria's secret library

BBC World Service