Andy Carvin

Syrian Activist: 'It's Snowing And We're Shaking Here'

Andy Carvin — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 17:19:00 +0000

According to activists inside and outside Syria, the government's 27-day siege against the opposition stronghold of Baba Amr has now succeeded. Initial reports suggest that forces are entering this neighborhood in the city of Homs, but details are sketchy at best because most of the reporters and citizen journalists covering the story have either fled or died.

One man, though, continues to bear witness.

On The Syrian Border, Getting Too Close Could Get You Shot

Andy Carvin — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 21:00:00 +0000

Our car pulled over along a deserted traffic circle in a small Jordanian village. An old man freshly covered in thick, wet sleet climbed into the back seat, his cold breath reeking of cigarettes.

"This is Khaled," my Syrian contact said. "He will show us to the border."

It took the better part of today to get from Amman, Jordan, to the Syrian border. A freak rain storm followed by a sudden blizzard had turned what should have been a two-hour drive into something much worse, as Jordanians seem to drive in snow as poorly as my fellow Washingtonians do.

Gadhafi's Compound, Slowly Being Erased From History

Andy Carvin — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 23:46:00 +0000

"I don't know why the traffic is like this," he said. "It's Friday just before prayers; where are all these people going?"

My friend Emad and I had been driving around the perimeter of Bab al-Azizia, Gadhafi's notorious compound just outside downtown Tripoli. It was here that NATO concentrated many of its bombing runs, as did President Reagan in the 1980s. Now the outer walls are a crumbling mess, covered with anti-Gadhafi graffiti.

It probably would have been faster for us to walk than drive at this point, but there was still nowhere to park.

From War Correspondents In Libya, A Toast To Fallen Comrades In Syria

Andy Carvin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 17:30:00 +0000

We arrived nearly an hour late, our taxi drivers lost in the potholed, half-flooded streets of Tripoli. Our Libyan host, who would never have fathomed an on-time start anyway, invited us upstairs, where he had managed to arrange an impressive array of hors d'oeuvres and beverages on such short notice.

People arrived in groups of three or four at a time. Everyone knew almost everyone else.

A Year Later, One Libyan Fighter Says 'Nothing Has Changed'

Andy Carvin — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:45:00 +0000

A lanky Libyan man leans hard against the railing, looking out at the waves of the Mediterranean crashing below us on the seafront in Benghazi. He's lost in thought for a moment, then shakes his head and takes a long drag from his cigarette.

"They were dropping like flies," he says. "I knew I was going to die next."

But somehow, he didn't. He goes by the street name Danny Vampire, a name that he picked up as a teenager nearly a decade ago.