lynsey addario, photographer

Middle East: Modern Syria

Syrians walk through the old city in Damascus, Syria. April 2006.
   
Young Syrian girls await a famous pop star outside of a club in Damascus. April 2006
   
Syrian and international guests attend the opening of the Villa Moda couture store in the old souk in Damascus. The store, opened by Kuwaiti Sheikh Majed, is the first couture store with imported goods in Syria since the Syrian government lifted the ban on imported goods.
     
  
Syrian and international guests attend the opening of the Villa Moda couture store in the old souk in Damascus. The store, opened by Kuwaiti Sheikh Majed, is the first couture store with imported goods in Syria since the Syrian government lifted the ban on imported goods. March 2006
   
A young Syrian woma shops for Hijabs, or traditional Islamic headcovers, in the Old Souk near the Umayyad Mosque, near the main souk in the historic old city of Damascus. April 2007
   
Syrian and foreign pilgrims flock to Sayyida Zeinab Mosque, built by the Iranians atop the burial place of the Zeinab, the granddaughter of the Prophet Mohammed, south of Damascus, Syria, April 2006. Throughout Damascus, Syrian women can be seen wearing anything from traditional, conservative Islamic attire to high-fashion labels. Syria, though ominously called a member of 'The Axis of Evil' by President Bush, is a country packed with Classical and Biblical history, sublime natural landscapes, and a populace reputed for its hospitality.
     
  
Syrian covered women walk through a shrine in a mosque in the old souk.
  
Young, traditional Islamic Syrian women gather around a Koran, the religious book of Islam, while hanging out during a religious studies group in a private home in Damascus. April 2006
   
A Syrian woman sits beneath a photo of the Syrian president Assad in the old souk in Damascus. April 2006
     
  
Upper class Syrian women hang out in a hip restaurant in Damascus. Both of these women have been selling couture clothing from their homes for years, defying the import ban by the Syrian government on foreign clothes. The ban was recently lifted, and the women will compete with a rash of new couture clothing stores springing up across damascus. April 2006
   
Upper-class Syrian women lounge around in a beauty salon in Damascus. Since the Syrian government lifted the ban on imported goods in 2006, there has been a rash of couture stores opening in Damascus. Throughout Damascus, Syrian women can be seen wearing anything from traditional, conservative Islamic attire to high-fashion labels.
  
Syrians hang out in La Casa shisha cafe and restaurant in an upscale neighborhood of Damascus. April 2007
     
  
Syrians hang out in MarMar nightclub and bar in the Old City of Damascus. April 2007
   
Syrian covered women shop walk through the old souk in Damascus,
  
Syrian women walk through the old city in Damascus. April 2006