Photo Essay: The morning market in Ras al-Ain
The market in downtown Ras al-Ain comes to life each morning at 6am. Vegetable and fruit vendors open their stalls, piling tables high with lemons, cabbages, tomatoes and onions. ...
Hasakah
US allies in Syria left stunned by shock announcement of military withdrawal
US forces near Manbij in 2017. Delil Souleiman/AFP.
AMMAN: US-backed factions and displaced Syrians in eastern Syria expressed “surprise” on Thursday over a shock decision announced by US President Donald Trump to withdraw American forces from the country in one month’s time, leaving the future of eastern Syria hanging in an uncertain balance.
President Trump announced the tot...
After escaping IS-held Deir e-Zor, family splits apart on journey to safety
Umm Talaa’s family of seven once lived under the Islamic State in their Deir e-Zor province village. But in early October, as frontlines drew closer and bombs rained down, t...
‘Getting here cost us everything’: Making a new life in Syria’s Kurdish north
Muthanna al-Hamid and his family of 10 said goodbye to their home in a village along the Euphrates River in Syria’s eastern Deir e-Zor province in September, as battles to d...
Tribal leaders halt conscription policy by Kurdish-led forces in Manbij, Tabqa
AMMAN: Kurdish forces in northern Syria are conscripting residents into “self-defense forces” despite local opposition, civilians and Kurdish officials tell Syria Dire...
The State of Rojava: A month-long reporting series from Syria Direct
AMMAN: Seven years into the Syrian civil war, the country’s Kurdish-majority regions enjoy a level of autonomy unthinkable before 2011. Kurdish culture and language, suppres...
After victories against Islamic State, SDF redefines its role
As the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) continue their campaign against the Islamic State in northeastern Syria, newly captured towns and cities are facing the monumental ...
Deir e-Zor’s displaced flee frontlines only to battle disease, misery in northern camp
AMMAN: Scores of displaced people are falling ill—and some dying—from preventable diseases such as tuberculosis and scabies in a Kurdish-run camp in northeastern Syria...
As the sun sets on the Islamic State, one family flees by night to safety
In the town of al-Asharah, on the western bank of the Euphrates River in Deir e-Zor province, Samia Umm Muhammad was born 38 years ago. There she laughed, grew, studied and worked...
Kurdish authorities in Syria ‘dedicated to unity’ as neighboring Iraqi Kurdistan pursues independence
In what was hailed as a milestone in the decades-long struggle for a Kurdish homeland, residents of the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq went to the polls last month and...
First-ever local elections to begin in Kurdish-held territories
AMMAN: Residents in Syria’s Kurdish-majority northern territories are heading to the polls on Friday to elect representatives at the neighborhood level in the first local el...
