Solin Muhammed Amin

Once a traditional hobby practiced by a few hunters, falcon trapping is now a booming business in Syria. After 12 years of war and economic crisis, the trade is more popular than ever, and hunters are willing to take growing risks to catch the birds.

Sudan hosted around 100,000 Syrians before war broke out in April. Northeastern Syria’s Autonomous Administration has repatriated hundreds of them, but tensions with Damascus stalled the process.

Abu Khashab camp was established in 2017 on agricultural land lent to local authorities by a prominent family from the area. But the land has since been claimed by another family, who never agreed to turn it into a camp. Three years later, legal deadlock persists, stalling some aid programs.

Despite legal advances for religious minorities in AANES-controlled regions in recent years, most Yazidis in Hasakah province are still landless peasants with no formal rights over the houses and villages they built.

Eight years after the Islamic State attacked Assyrian villages along the Khabour River in Hasakah province, less than 10 percent of the community has returned to its historic home. What are the housing, land and property issues faced by this community in exile? And how do Assyrians see the future of their villages, which have become home to thousands of displaced people?

Questions remain about the impact on Syria’s waterways from the February 6 earthquake, which affected several dams and led to localized flooding.

Cross-line aid convoys coming from northeastern Syria to support earthquake survivors in opposition and government-controlled areas have been stalled for days by both the Assad regime and Turkish-backed factions, in an apparent attempt to politicize and control aid flows in their respective areas.

In northeastern Syria, the lack of an accurate land registry prompted de facto authorities to suspend most ongoing court cases regarding property rights. Two years later, legal paralysis prevails.

Recent Turkish airstrikes and shelling damaged oil fields and power plants in SDF-held northeastern Syria, threatening a prolonged energy crisis and exacerbating widespread environmental pollution in the area.

Home to the wild ancestors of our most important crops, Syria once hosted one of the world’s biggest seed banks and grew several native varieties of wheat. But this collapsed during the war, and Syrians are now struggling to find good-quality seeds. How did the country lose its seed treasure, and with it, a wealth of genetic resources for humanity?