Women are notably absent from efforts by independent political formations to gain a foothold in opposition-held northwestern Syria, an area dominated by armed factions.
People in Afrin remember the forest around Maydanki Lake for what it once was: a natural haven, the setting of summer days spent under rustling branches. Now devastated by years of illegal tree cutting by Turkish-backed factions, what hope is there for its future?
While Ankara condemns anti-refugee riots and makes arrests in the wake of “the most violent wave of hatred” to date, Syrians in Turkey say the attacks indirectly serve the government’s goal of refugee returns as it signals normalization with Assad.
The hanging of Syrian feminist and activist Heba Haj Aref after a long series of threats has cast a long shadow over women activists across northwestern Syria, highlighting the dangers and lack of support they face.
Villages on the line of contact between regime and Turkish-backed opposition forces in the southern Afrin countryside live under constant threat of unpredictable shelling. The volatile security situation leaves families choosing between sending their children to school, despite the risks, or depriving them of an education in the hopes of keeping them safe.
Residents in and around Syria’s northeastern Hasakah city are rationing water, with the flow from the Alouk water station controlled by Turkish-backed factions all but cut and few sustainable solutions in sight.
Six months after four members of a Kurdish family were shot and killed by Turkish-backed fighters while celebrating the Nowruz holiday in Afrin, the accused killers are still on trial. Surviving family members face constant threats and physical attacks to pressure them to drop the case or leave Afrin.
Following the killing of five Kurds in Jenderes by Turkish-backed forces in March, HTS intervened in SNA territory for the second time in six months, underscoring al-Jolani’s ambitions of territorial expansion and highlighting his use of ethnic and religious minorities to make a case for himself.
Some HTS forces that entered northern Aleppo province during recent infighting between Turkish-backed opposition factions withdrew to Idlib this week, but concerns about the hardline faction’s sustained influence remain.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s expansion into northern Aleppo can be explained not through ideology, but strategic interests. Whether or not the hardline faction holds on to its recently captured territory hinges on how Turkey responds.
