Salam Ali

Iran-backed Arab tribal forces attacked the US-backed SDF in Deir e-Zor this week, briefly overrunning security positions and sparking heightened security measures in neighboring Hasakah province amid fears of further escalation. 

In northern Syria’s Kobani, a border city facing Turkish shelling and continuous threats of a ground assault, many residents are trying to sell their property to pay for a way out. With the city’s future uncertain, there are few buyers.

To obtain records from Syrian public universities, students must apply in person or through legal proxies. If this is not possible, or if they are wanted by the security services, they are forced to pay hundreds of dollars in bribes to state employees through brokers.

Residents of SDF-controlled northeastern Syria say the US military presence there brings a sense of relative stability, one that any withdrawal—as Washington was recently reported to be considering—would shatter.

Farmers in northeastern Syria are reducing the amount of land they cultivate or relying on the rain for irrigation as weak fuel subsidies and high costs make farming increasingly unprofitable.

Villages on the line of contact between regime and Turkish-backed opposition forces in the southern Afrin countryside live under constant threat of unpredictable shelling. The volatile security situation leaves families choosing between sending their children to school, despite the risks, or depriving them of an education in the hopes of keeping them safe.

Dozens of homes surrounding the al-Sinaa prison in Hasakah city were demolished in the wake of a major Islamic State attack in January 2022. Nearly two years later, homeowners have not been compensated despite AANES promises.