In August 2015, Suhair and her children, Naela, then 26, Maisam, 19, and Yousef, 13, fled Syria to reunite with her daughter Souad, 22, risking a dangerous journey across 15 miles of the Aegean Sea in a motor-powered inflatable raft. They had one main goal: to all live together again in safety. They were willing to bear the many indignities that would come with the journey and with being Arab and Muslim and Syrian refugees — if it meant being together. But in the end, the five of them would be scattered in four different cities, across two different European countries. (Out of concern for their security in a new country and the safety of their relatives in Syria, they asked The Times not to divulge their last name).
They joined one million others who also decided in 2015 to escape the catastrophes home had become. The overwhelming majority of them were Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans. While their countries had come apart in different and specific ways, their disasters shared some common origins, including the ruinous consequences of decades of American wars and sanctions. [full story]