Caught between a seemingly absent Syrian government and a growing Israeli presence, Mount Hermon’s Druze villages are waiting for a clarity neither Damascus nor Tel Aviv seems willing to provide.
As Damascus and the SDF inch towards integration, is northeastern Syria heading for unified state institutions, “complementary integration,” or a revival of divided influence?
Kurds in northeastern Syria are cautiously waiting to see what comes next as Damascus and the SDF take their first steps towards a fraught integration.
Nearly 11 months since the fall of the regime, simmering insecurity and uncontrolled weapons continue to destabilize communities and claim lives in Syria’s southern Daraa province.
A ceasefire halted clashes between Syrian government forces and the SDF in two Kurdish-majority neighborhoods of Aleppo city this week, but the outburst of violence highlighted how far the two sides are from implementing stalled integration agreements.
SDF-held Raqqa city is tense, its nights under curfew punctuated by gunfire and arrests. Residents feel cut off from the rest of Syria, fearing the possibility of partition and a return of IS.
