Louisa Loveluck And Zakaria Zakaria The Washington Post

Fleeing terror in the Islamic State's last Syrian strongholds, tens of thousands of civilians have become stranded in harrowing conditions across barely functional displacement camps.

One evening in the early days of Syria's uprising, Mohsen al-Masri's band of activists slipped through the Damascus streets and waited for the coast to clear. Then they crouched down, opened their bags and let out a stream of color.

Fleeing terror in the Islamic State's last Syrian strongholds, tens of thousands of civilians have become stranded in harrowing conditions across barely functional displacement camps.

One evening in the early days of Syria's uprising, Mohsen al-Masri's band of activists slipped through the Damascus streets and waited for the coast to clear. Then they crouched down, opened their bags and let out a stream of color.