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.
Several commanders defected from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Deir e-Zor in recent days, amid demonstrations and simmering anger in the SDF-held countryside.
Their positions exposed, Hezbollah and Iranian-backed militias are repositioning themselves in Syria to avoid being targeted, while Russia uses its own forces as a counterbalance.
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.
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.”
As Israel wages a full-blown aerial and ground campaign in Lebanon, will Iran’s proxies in Syria come to the aid of its beleaguered ally Hezbollah?
Finding few other options, many women and girls in the Deir e-Zor countryside spend their days in the fields as hourly farmworkers, facing difficult conditions for meager pay.
Bombardment by Syrian regime forces and affiliated militias has killed and injured dozens of people in SDF-controlled villages and towns in Deir e-Zor since Iran-backed Arab tribal forces launched an attack on the eastern countryside six days ago.
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.
