Harried by government security campaigns, IS appears unable to regain territorial control in Syria, instead working to maintain visibility through limited operations while betting on the failure of the country’s transition.
On the second anniversary of the revolution since the fall of the Assad regime, have its earliest aims—freedom, justice, dignity and the rule of law—been achieved, or is the journey far from over?
As the Syrian government shuts down Deir e-Zor's informal oil refineries, a local industry faces collapse even as nearby communities are likely to reap health and environmental benefits.
As Raqqa embarks on a future without the SDF, the northeastern Syrian city faces the delicate work of reintegrating former fighters and repairing social fractures left by years of shifting rule.
The SDF’s sudden withdrawal has ushered in a new reality for Syrians in Deir e-Zor and Raqqa, where many are optimistic despite uncertainty about the days ahead.
Nearly a year after the fall of the Assad regime, some in SDF-held northeastern Syria await a “liberation” of their own amid an uptick in arbitrary arrests, including for supporting the new government.
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.
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.
