A new security checkpoint in Suwayda city sparked angry protests and armed clashes between local factions and regime forces before an agreement negotiated by local civil and religious leadership averted further escalation. The incident underscores the delicate balance of keeping the peace in the southern province.
Facing a teacher shortage and little government support, communities in Daraa are turning to alternative solutions: providing financial bonuses to keep underpaid teachers in classrooms and repairing school buildings themselves.
Suwayda’s protest movement—marked by a prominent role for women and an insistence on nonviolence—is holding strong nearly 10 months in, despite Damascus deploying military reinforcements and appointing a man accused of war crimes as governor of the southern province.
Since late 2023, the Syrian regime has been waging a drone war in northwestern Syria. As civilians in areas near frontlines are targeted, the threat of attacks keeps farmers from their land, destroying livelihoods and threatening the area’s food security.
Increasing numbers of Syrian public sector employees left their jobs due to low pay and high living costs over the past three years, despite the fact that quitting without permission is a criminal offense.
The government of Iraqi Kurdistan has suspended residency renewals for Syrians in its territory without issuing a formal decision, leaving many in a state of chaos and confusion about their future in the autonomous region.
Erbil’s April 4 decision to stop issuing visas to Syrians has been a disaster for those for whom the Kurdistan Region of Iraq was a safe haven from conscription or a place to reunite with family members after years of separation.
People in Syria’s southern Houran region have long turned to clan reconciliation processes to resolve thorny disputes. The practice increased after 2011, and peaked over the past three years, with residents choosing the clans over the courts with the encouragement of regime legal representatives.
In Syria’s southern Suwayda province, suspected Jordanian airstrikes hunt drug traffickers and kill civilians. Regime-linked gangs operate with impunity and smugglers ferry drugs over the border. Local armed groups fight back. How did we get here?
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.
