This Week in Northern Syria [24.2025]

June 11 - 17: Exam registration starts in the northeast, DAANES & Gov’t set wheat prices, US drawdown accelerates, and more…

Note: I will be on vacation for the rest of the month and will not be publishing June 18 - 24 and June 25 - July 1 issues, apologies for the inconvenience. The newsletter will continue in its regular fashion for the rest of the year, barring any unforeseen circumstances.

DAANES/SDF

06/11/25: Registration for middle school government curriculum certificate exams began in northeastern Syria, in accordance with the agreement reached last week between the DAANES Education Authority and the government’s Ministry of Education. NPA reported that 5,000 students had registered by the end of the day. Without this agreement students would’ve had to travel into government-controlled areas to register and take the exams, meaning making a potentially long and expensive journey involving crossing through line of contact security checkpoints. Meanwhile exams for the DAANES curriculum began on June 14th.

06/11/25: DAANES announced that it set this year’s wheat purchasing price at $420 per ton. Last year the price was set at $310, sparking widespread protests throughout the region as it was $120 less per ton than the previous year’s price, only $20 higher than estimated production costs, and $56 less than what the former regime was offering at the time. In this year’s statement DAANES referenced this controversy, saying that it “did not have sufficient financial capabilities last year as a result of Turkish attacks on the region, places of economic resources, and civilian objects.” The following Tuesday NPA reported that “amid a decline in production… [due to] climate fluctuations and scarcity of rain” DAANES had so far collected 105,605 tons of wheat. See Syria Direct’s recent piece for more on the effects of drought conditions on this year’s crop yields.