VRT News experimented for this documentary with immersive media technology. Every year since the conflict began, VRT journalist Jens Franssen visits Syria. In March 2016 he made two VR documentaries. The use of VR film in news coverage can be a powerful new storytelling tool as illustrated in Syria’s Silence. Through the VR approach, the public gets more involved in the tragic story of Al-Shaddadi. Al-Shaddadi lies but a few kilometres away from the front-line in the war against ISIS. The city has been liberated recently by Kurdish forces, but most of the inhabitants have fled. The city has paid a high price. Once vibrant and alive, it has become a ghost town. Five years of raging war has left Syria with little hope. There is an eerie tension in the air. Syria’s Silence was originally published on the VRT website, VRT’s YouTube channel, Vrideo and is accessible in Dutch, English and Arabic.