Turkey tightens control over Syria’s war narrative

Something has changed in the way we cover Syria. In 2015, Turkey began building a wall along the length of its 550-mile frontier with the war zone. The reasons were valid: Turkey wanted to cut the jihadi highway through which tens of thousands of foreigners had travelled into Syria and joined up with Isis. It also wanted to stop them travelling back the other way.

The wall is now almost finished. It is three metres high, made of reinforced concrete topped with razor wire, and mounted with security cameras and automated guns. The area around the wall is heavy with soldiers and parts are periodically declared restricted military zones – especially when operations like the battle for Afrin – which is in northern Syria – are underway.

Before the wall was built, journalists could cross Turkey’s border into rebel-held Syria almost freely. For three years, we could report from the ground on the rebel campaign, the rise of extremism and, most importantly, the hideous toll the war was taking on civilians.