This Week in Northern Syria [21.2025]

May 21 - 27: Gov't/DAANES agreement on al-Houl, Ministry of the Interior reforms, a new US Syria envoy appointed, and more...

Notes:

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DAANES/SDF

05/22/25: 52 families consisting of 274 individuals left the al-‘Arishah IDP camp in central al-Hasakah for their homes in western Deir ez-Zour, as part of the voluntary return program began earlier this year in coordination with UNHCR and the new Syrian government.

05/22/25: Leading PYD figure Aldar Xelil told Reuters that “Syrian Kurdish parties will send a delegation to Damascus soon for talks over their region's political future.” This follows the “Unity of Kurdish Position and Rank Conference” held in al-Qamishli in late April, which saw much of the historically disparate and often times antagonistic landscape of Kurdish parties - including those on opposite sides of the Öcalan-Barzani divide that characterizes the nationalist movement more broadly - agree to a 26 point document that calls for federalization and decentralization in Syria, among other demands. It’s unclear what degree of recognition the government will give this delegation given its overall attempt to avoid anything resembling the consociationalism of Lebanon and Iraq, and the already existing deal with the SDF, more focused on the current partition of Syria and the institutional integration of DAANES than the specifics of constitutional and representational issues.

05/23/25: The ENKS held a series of seminars across northeastern Syria on Kurdish unity following the conference and agreement held late last month.

05/24/25: Small front line clashes reportedly broke out between the SDF and pro-government (likely SNA) forces in the vicinity of Deir Hafir, eastern Aleppo. The day before similar clashes were reported to have taken place on the Tishrin dam front.

05/25/25: The SDF reported that its TOL unit arrested “a cell member affiliated with foreign intelligence services.” The statement did not identify the foreign country but if accurate it is almost certainly Turkey.

05/25/25: DAANES, the Syrian government, and the Coalition held a tripartite meeting at al-Hawl camp (some reports place the meeting the day before) during which they established “a joint mechanism with the transitional government in Syria to remove Syrian families from Al-Hawl camp.”

The government delegation being escorted by a US armored vehicle in Deir ez-Zour (source)