Sahat Al-Bina' — Light Over Syria

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Marker size reflects how much a neighborhood's light has changed over the last year. Click a marker to add it to the comparison chart below.

Recovery Index: each neighborhood's percentile rank in light recovery (recent brightness vs. its darkest wartime point) against all 414 tracked neighborhoods nationwide. 100 = most recovered relative to peers, 0 = least. Click any row to add it to the comparison chart below.

Ask a question in plain language — e.g. "which neighborhoods in Homs are recovering fastest" or "where is population returning faster than services." The answer is generated by an AI model reasoning over this platform's own data, and can make mistakes — always check the underlying numbers yourself before relying on it.

Select up to 5 neighborhoods above to compare their light trends.

Population, by neighborhood

2015–2024 (solid) are modeled estimates grounded in census data; 2025–2030 (hatched) are demographic projections and may not reflect the post-2024 return migration visible in the light data above.

Mapped essential services

Counts reflect what's been mapped on OpenStreetMap as of mid-2026, not necessarily what exists — coverage is denser for schools than for hospitals, clinics, or markets, and some neighborhoods may have unmapped services.

About the dataعن البيانات

Every dot of light a satellite can see over Syria at night is a rough proxy for something human: a lit street, a working generator, a family back home. This traces that light across 414 neighborhoods, so the pattern of return is visible where it's happening — and where it still isn't.

HOW IT'S MEASUREDطريقة القياس

Note: this chart plots VIIRS monthly radiance, available from 2014 onward. Syria's national grid has operated at roughly 2–4 hours of daily supply for most of this period, so brightness reflects grid rationing and generator/solar access as much as local rebuilding. Full methodology & limitations →

Data: NOAA/NASA VIIRS nighttime lights (via Google Earth Engine), WorldPop, OpenStreetMap, OCHA Syria administrative boundaries (HDX).