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Salam Ali
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Waning hopes: Will Damascus help Afrin’s Kurds reclaim their homes?
Little has changed for Afrin’s Kurds, despite Damascus’ security forces entering on February 7. Violations persist, with returnees finding fighters or civilians occupying their homes and demanding hundreds of dollars to leave.
In Syria’s ‘barrel bomb capital’ Darayya, housing crisis stalls return
Around 25,000 people have returned to Darayya, just south of Damascus, since the regime fell. Destruction and a worsening housing crisis prevents the return of others to the battered city, home to 350,000 people before 2011.
‘To send a message’: What happened to the Tishreen Dam protest convoy?
Twenty people were killed and injured when an AANES-sponsored protest convoy approached an area of active fighting around Syria’s Tishreen Dam on Wednesday and was targeted by Turkish aircraft. What happened, and why?
Tens of thousands return to Afrin while fear of abuses keeps others away
Since Turkish-backed factions took control of northern Aleppo at the start of December, more than 70,000 displaced people have returned to Afrin and its countryside, while others fled to northeastern Syria fearing abuses.
Syrian Kurdish parties struggle to unify and negotiate with Damascus
Longstanding disputes between the two largest Syrian Kurdish political blocs stymie efforts to form a unified political vision and send a delegation to negotiate with the transitional government in Damascus.
‘A new chapter’: Anxiety and optimism in northeastern Syria
Kurdish and Arab residents of northeastern Syria described joy at the fall of the Assad regime, while views of the new authorities in Damascus and the future of SDF-held areas range from optimism to trepidation.
Afrin’s displaced torn between another exile and danger in northern Aleppo
The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) estimates 120,000 people have been displaced from areas of northern Aleppo captured by Turkish-backed opposition factions this week.
Armed robbers stalk northeastern Syria’s country roads
Countryside roads in SDF-controlled northeastern Syria are a hunting ground for armed robbers targeting civilians and humanitarian workers. Repeated security incidents limit residents’ freedom of movement and cut into organizations’ limited funding.
Regime and AANES conscription traps Syrians in Lebanon as thousands flee
Young Syrians returning from Lebanon to AANES-held northeastern Syria, like those heading for regime areas, face the threat of conscription for “self-defense duty.”
Unable to afford cooking gas, Hasakah residents turn to a ‘deadly’ alternative
Hasakah residents who cannot afford costly cooking gas rely on the babur, a traditional kerosene stove, risking death or injury because locally available fuel is impure and highly flammable.