Affordable, friendly and ready for tourists – this is the message behind a new drive to promote Syria as a holiday destination, despite a recent human rights report determining the Assad government was responsible for “crimes against humanity” and the Foreign Office warning against all travel to the country...

Xavier Raychell Blancharde offers guided tours of Syria through a travel company named after his YouTube channel, Travelling the Unknown, after first visiting Syria in 2018. The tours start at $1,300 (£1,230), which he told the Guardian would show a “different side” of Syria and counter the isolation of the country, especially for civilians living there.

The Spanish travel blogger Joan Torres, who also organises Syria expeditions for €1,590 (£1,380), said he was able to travel by himself the first time he visited in 2018, though the government later required that tourists travel with a guide. Torres prompted anger from Syrians abroad with his first trip, especially with his description of Aleppo as having been “liberated” by Assad’s forces...

Fared al-Mahlool, an Idlib-based journalist and researcher who was displaced from his home, says he is angered by the disparity between what is shown in influencer content and his reality. “Syria will not be safe as long as Assad controls power. There are thousands of detainees in Assad’s prisons, poverty and unemployment. Whoever says that Syria is safe is a liar,” says Mahlool...