In northeastern Syria, a growing community of artists—dancers, musicians, filmmakers—fights to preserve the region’s diverse heritage and sustain more than a decade of cultural revival.
More than a month into the academic year in northeastern Syria, students enrolled in a number of schools remain locked out of their classrooms as a years-long struggle continues over what and how students learn in areas held by the SDF.
Syria’s worst drought in decades has wiped out rain-fed crops and diminished yields across the country, devastating farmers and raising the risk of food shortages.
Planned talks between the AANES and Damascus were postponed this week, while efforts to implement the March 10 agreement remain slow and complex. Two separate delegations from the northeast aim to negotiate, while Damascus still rejects decentralization.
Long-suppressed by the Assad regime, the Kurdish language underwent an educational and cultural revival in Syria over the past decade. In the new Syria, its speakers refuse to lose ground and are fighting for recognition.
Three weeks on, little tangible progress has been made towards implementing the SDF-Damascus agreement, which faces a range of internal and external challenges.
Syrians welcomed news of a landmark agreement to integrate Kurdish-led forces into state institutions on Monday, hoping it would prevent bloodshed and prevent any partition of the country, while “the devil is in the details” of its implementation.
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.
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.
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.
