Loading
Rojava Information Center
  • English
  • العربية
  • Reports
    • Occupation Report
    • Sleeper Cells
    • Indepth Dossiers
  • Archive
    • Focus
      • Explainers
      • Interviews
      • Translations
    • Background
      • Key facts
      • Coronavirus Crisis
      • 2019 War: Daily Updates
      • Rojava timeline
      • War on Afrin
      • War on NE Syria
      • Useful resources
      • Key documents
    • Gallery
      • Photo
      • Video
      • Graphics and Maps
  • Media Coverage
  • About Us
  • Donate
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram

Our reports

Incessant War: Turkey’s Drone Campaign in NES, 2022
Explainers Focus News Report
Incessant War: Turkey’s Drone Campaign in NES, 2022
By Rojava IC  /  March 2, 2023
State of the Occupation Q1 & Q2 2022: Lack of Accountability of SNA Crimes, HTS Incursion in Afrin, and ISIS in Turkish-Occupied Territories
Afrin News Occupation Report Report
State of the Occupation Q1 & Q2 2022: Lack of Accountability of SNA Crimes, HTS Incursion in Afrin, and ISIS in Turkish-Occupied Territories
By Admin  /  February 26, 2023
January Sleeper Cell Report – Two large-scale raid campaigns from the SDF
News Report Sleeper Cells
January Sleeper Cell Report – Two large-scale raid campaigns from the SDF
By Rojava IC  /  February 22, 2023
Annual Sleeper Cell Report 2022
News Sleeper Cells
Annual Sleeper Cell Report 2022
By Rojava IC  /  February 5, 2023
Explainer: Afrin, 5 years under Turkish occupation
Afrin Explainers Focus
Explainer: Afrin, 5 years under Turkish occupation
By Rojava IC  /  January 20, 2023

Latest

Incessant War: Turkey’s Drone Campaign in NES, 2022

March 2, 2023 / Explainers, Focus, News, Report

State of the Occupation Q1 & Q2 2022: Lack of Accountability of SNA Crimes, HTS Incursion in Afrin, and ISIS in Turkish-Occupied Territories

February 26, 2023 / Afrin, News, Occupation Report, Report

January Sleeper Cell Report – Two large-scale raid campaigns from the SDF

February 22, 2023 / News, Report, Sleeper Cells

Annual Sleeper Cell Report 2022

February 5, 2023 / News, Sleeper Cells

Explainer: Afrin, 5 years under Turkish occupation

January 20, 2023 / Afrin, Explainers, Focus

Los ataques de Turquía en el Norte y Este de Siria, el campamento de al-Hol y la batalla contra el ISIS

December 19, 2022 / Interviews, News

The Shammar tribe in North and East Syria

December 11, 2022 / Culture, Interviews, News

November Sleeper Cell Report – the fight against ISIS in the shadow of Turkey’s military operation

December 11, 2022 / News, Sleeper Cells

Joves promeses: Una introducció al sistema universitari del NES

December 6, 2022 / Indepth Dossiers, News, Nord i Est de Síria, Report, Universitat al-Sharq, Universitat Kobane, Universitat Rojava

Featured in

Rojava Information Center has provided research, information and contacts to all of the world’s top media organizations, including:

rojavaic

On March 12th, 2004, violence against Kurdish fans On March 12th, 2004, violence against Kurdish fans at a football match between Jazira and Deir ez-Zor triggered an Kurdish uprising that spread from Qamishlo to as far as Aleppo. The resulting government crackdown saw 2,000 people arrested and over 30 killed.

AANES marks the day to both commemorate those killed, and bring together the peoples of North and East Syria in unity. Qamishlo city again played host to the now-annual friendly football match between the Jazira and Deir ez-Zor teams.

In the Qamishlo football stadium, Jazira region's Executive Council co-chair, Talaat Younis, gave a speech in which he argued that the events of 2004 were a pivotal moment in which Syrian people stood up against the divisive and repressive politics of the Ba'ath regime.
As people across NES celebrate the 8th of March - As people across NES celebrate the 8th of March - International Women's Day - by taking to the streets to march, RIC visited various political & civil society organizations to hear about their preparations for the day.

RIC spoke to Zehra Semo of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) Women’s Council: "For March 8th we organized a seminar about women's struggle against patriarchal mentalities. Many people came: Kurds, Arabs, Syriacs, intellectuals, politicians, women’s organizations, legal groups".

The seminar featured 4 key speeches, after each of which the floor was opened for the audience to contribute thier views. Both women & men spoke up regarding their experiences and analyses of women's freedom in NES.

Semo continued, "But we don’t just celebrate 8th of March. Every day is a struggle for women’s freedom. For example, through the spreading & advancement of our system of co-chairing in society."

RIC also spoke with Wala al-Ali, the co-chair of NES' Jazira Canton Justice Council. She stated that the Justice Council, together with Mala Jin (NES' Women's Houses), were marking March 8th by organizing week-long educational sessions; one in Kurdish language, one in Arabic.

In an interview with Mala Jin's head coordinator in Qamishlo city, RIC was told that these educational sessions "were related to teaching people about the work of Mala Jin in general, and about sexism, & about the new 'Family Law'".

Al-Ali explained that the 'Family Law' is just for NES' Jazira Canton, and replaces the former 'Women's Law' which was a hallmark of NES' justice system: "When we brought about the Women's Law in 2014, we created laws according to the situation then. 

But in late 2022 we introduced the new version, the Family Law, which is more extensive, as society is increasingly accepting of these things related to women's rights; change has happened so this new version is suited to the situation now."

Mala Jin said they also held a 1-day educational session, in which 90 women & men learnt about the history of March 8th, but added, "this year is not like the other years, as our people are hurting from the earthquake, therefore we celebrate through seminars and education only".
AANES announced it has suspended the operation of AANES announced it has suspended the operation of its Tishrin Dam (Manbij region) for 1 week, after the water fell below the 'dead level' of 320m, at which point the dam can no longer produce electricity. 

RIC visited the dam to learn about the current crisis.

Hamouda Al-Hammadi, the dam's administrative engineer, told RIC: "At full capacity, with enough water flowing, the dam's 6 turbines could provide 630MW of electricity, 24 hours a day". But, al-Hammadi said, they lack spare parts, so usually only 2 or 3 turbines are functional.

Furthermore, due to the severe shortage of water entering the Syrian Euphrates from Turkey, the turbines that are running cannot produce so much electricity. For example, in recent months, Kobane and its surrounding villages were receiving 45MW for 4 hours/day from the dam.

Al-Hammadi relayed to RIC some of the challenges they were facing: "600 people run the dam. 100 are old staff, who have worked here for years, under the Syrian regime, ISIS, and now AANES. The new staff are coming from universities, they receive specialist training but too many young educated people leave, so there is a constant lack of trained engineers and workers. Particularly, we need more engineers from mechanical and electrical backgrounds".

The issue of the Euphrates flow is key. A water crisis has been brewing over the past few years, with @humanrightswatch writing that the "Turkish authorities have failed to ensure an adequate water flow downstream into the Syrian portion of the Euphrates river".

At the beginning of 2021, the water flow entering Syria from Turkey sharply dropped. This has affected not only electricity production, but also agricultural productivity, sanitation/hygiene, and water pollution.

In winter, water storage in the dam should be at its peak; this winter the water level in Tishrin declined roughly 5m. The Tishrin dam supplies electricity to Manbij, Kobane, Sarrin & Tabqa. The Tabqa dam also supplies electricity to some of these areas.
[NEW REPORT] With a ground invasion greenlight r [NEW REPORT] 

With a ground invasion greenlight repeatedly denied, Turkey's drone campaign in NES has risen to the fore as a key part of its strategy to weaken the SDF and AANES. This report presents RIC's 2022 data on Turkish drone strikes in NES.

In 2022, in NES, RIC recorded 130 Turkish drone strikes, killing 87 people and injuring 151. These strikes ranged from targeted assassinations of important military or political personnel, to hits on civilian infrastructure.

While the civilian casualty toll is significant, and children are amongst these, Turkey does not formally recognize the civilian casualties that its strikes incur.

2022’s 130 strikes mark a 46% increase from 2021's 89 strikes. Turkey’s drone war in NES impacts the region in three key ways: obstructing the global mission to defeat ISIS, hampering democracy-building efforts, and engendering an unstable and insecure environment for civilians.

To download the report, click link in bio⬆⬆
[NEW REPORT] In the earthquake-devastated Afrin [NEW REPORT] 

In the earthquake-devastated Afrin region, the Turkish occupation continues unshaken. RIC has been monitoring the occupation situation in northern Syria since 2021, particularly the SNA's crimes & rights violations. Read our new Occupation Report for Q1 & Q2, 2022.

During Jan-June 2022, in Turkish-occupied Afrin & M4 Strip, RIC recorded:

📌 704 incidents involving unlawful arrest - 10% up from the same period in 2021. 

📌 335 cases of extortion, robbery, unauthorised sale of property, and looting, 89% of which occurred in Afrin region.

📌 64 cases of infighting - almost double what RIC recorded in the same period last year.

📌 Key ISIS leadership figures continue to base themselves in, comfortably move around, and operate from the Turkish-occupied territories.

📌 The most serious episode of infighting between SNA militias since 2021, following the temporary entrance of HTS into Jindires in June. 

📌 The US lifted its Caesar sanctions on certain areas, including the Turkish-occupied M4 Strip and ‘Euphrates Shield’ area, but not Afrin.

To download the report, click link in bio⬆⬆
[NEW REPORT] RIC's annual ISIS sleeper cell repo [NEW REPORT] 

RIC's annual ISIS sleeper cell report for 2022 breaks down the key events and statistics from the last year: 

📌Attacks from ISIS sleeper cells (285) remained roughly consistent with 2021, but number of casualties rose. 

📌Huge spike in the total number of ISIS-linked individuals arrested by the Asayish and SDF (1,230): over double that of any of the 3 years prior.

📌2 significant SDF raid campaigns in al-Hol camp saw large numbers of ISIS-linked individuals arrested & seizure of weapons and communications devices. 

📌ISIS engaged in intimidation, targeting of tribal & political leaders, and attacking those perceived as AANES-linked.

📌ISIS activity was concentrated in NES’ Arab-majority regions, in particular Deir ez-Zor. 

📌Sleeper cells sought to stoke and take advantage of civilian grievances stemming from the deterioration of socio-economic conditions in many areas.

To download the report, click link in bio⬆⬆
Across January 27th and 28th, the city of Qamishlo Across January 27th and 28th, the city of Qamishlo hosted North and East Syria's inaugural technology fair.

24 inventors and companies participated in the event, which was organized by the telecommunications company Rcell, presenting a variety of applications and devices.

Among the exhibitors there were also students of the University of Rojava.

Recently graduated from the faculties of Mechatronics, Engineering, and the Institute of Technical Sciences, they presented their technological innovations including a smart farming project and a solar powered fridge, made from a recycled water cooler, which operates from a 50 watt panel and can also last 3 hours without sun thanks to the solar powered battery.

Rojava University was established in Qamishlo in 2016. In total, 4 public universities have been built in NES since the region became self-governing in 2012, of which 3 remain operational today.

For further information about NES' University System click link in bio.⬆⬆
Today is the 5th anniversary of the Turkish invasi Today is the 5th anniversary of the Turkish invasion of Afrin. 

250,000 to 300,000 people fled the city and surrounding villages, mostly to the area of Shehba to the south.

On a recent trip to the region, we interviewed some of the displaced, and those responsible for documenting the many human rights abuses that have occured in the now occupied area.

A detailed 'explainer' will be published on our website rojavainformationcenter.com
Since North East Syria’s ancient cultural herita Since North East Syria’s ancient cultural heritage is remarkable, the @RojavaIC-team took a break from office work to visit the Tell Mozan archaeological site.

Formerly known as "Urkesh" the settlement located near the Turkish border in Taurus Region, Heseke Governorate was founded during the 4th millenium BC. 

Excavations at Tell Mozan, which began in 1984, have revealed a royal palace as well as residential areas and city walls.

Now protected by the Autonomous Administration, people hope that the rich cultural heritage will remain intact despite threats of a further Turkish invasion.

Archaeologists consider that many still-buried secrets are waiting to be discovered.

We rounded off the day having çay with a family. 

#RIC #NES #CulturalHeritage #archaeology #excavation #Urkesh #TellMozan
[ON THE GROUND] In Teqil Beqil, Derik, Turkey's ' [ON THE GROUND]

In Teqil Beqil, Derik, Turkey's 'double-tap' strike last night killed 9 civilians, including 1 journalist, and injured 3. RIC visited the site to record the impact of the bombing.

After Turkey's first airstrike in Teqil Beqil, civilians nearby mobilised to come to the scene. Turkey then bombed a car driving away from the site, this time likely with a drone rather than a warplane, and reportedly bombed the site itself twice more.

The SDF today announced that Turkey's 'Operation Claw Sword' saw a total of 11 civilians killed, 9 civilians injured, 1 SDF soldier killed, 2 AANES 'guards' killed, 15 SAA soldiers killed, and 12 SAA soldiers injured.

NES' TEV-DEM (Movement for a Democratic Society) co-chair, Ruken Ehmed, commented, "the bombardment [...] is an effort to cover up the crisis experienced by the Turkish state in domestic politics [...It] resorted to such an attack to get results in the [Turkish] elections".

AANES commented, "we call on the sponsors of the cessation of hostilities, the Russian Federation and the USA, and with them the international community, to show a clear position towards the arrogance of the Turkish state and its continuous war".
[ON THE GROUND] In Teqil Beqil, Derik, Turkey's ' [ON THE GROUND]

In Teqil Beqil, Derik, Turkey's 'double-tap' strike last night killed 9 civilians, including 1 journalist, and injured 3. RIC visited the site to record the impact of the bombing.

After Turkey's first airstrike in Teqil Beqil, civilians nearby mobilised to come to the scene. Turkey then bombed a car driving away from the site, this time likely with a drone rather than a warplane, and reportedly bombed the site itself twice more.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Qamishlo this morning, marching together for over an hour. The participants explained that they were protesting against the use of chemical weapons by Turkey in Iraq and that they were worried Turkey would use chemical weapons in NES, if fears of a new invasion are realized.
Yesterday, Qamishlo held its annual book fair for Yesterday, Qamishlo held its annual book fair for the 6th year running. The event celebrates the Kurdish culture, language and literature; all of which were suppressed under Syrian government rule. Books in Arabic, Syriac, Turkish, Armenian, and English were also for sale.

The significance of this fair can be seen in the context of AANES' efforts to promote a societal culture in which people are able to read and write in their mother tongue while also knowing the languages of those living around them, with whom they share a society.

RIC spoke with Berivan Khaled, AANES' Executive Council co-chair, who said, "it is important that ethnic groups are accepted based on a democratic idea, so coexistence among them is guaranteed. Individuals should be enabled to speak Kurdish, Arabic, Syriac & their mother tongue."
Over a thousand people attended the funeral of Yel Over a thousand people attended the funeral of Yelmaz Shero in Qamishlo yesterday.

He and his fellow co-chair of the Justice and Reform Office of the Autonomous Administration, Zeynep Saroxan, were both killed in a Turkish drone strike near Girke Lege.

This was an explicit attack on key civilian workers in AANES' political structures.
A demonstration took place in Qamishlo in solidari A demonstration took place in Qamishlo in solidarity with the clashes in Iran following the killing of Jina Amini by the morality police of the Iranian regime.

Women cut their hair and burned head coverings in protest.
Students graduating from the Mechatronics departme Students graduating from the Mechatronics department of Rojava University recently presented their final year projects. These included robotic spiders, a drone, a prosthetic arm controlled by a glove with sensors, and a firefighting tank equipped with infrared sensors and a water pump. All of these are made with 3D printed parts.

Swipe for a video of these in action >>>
A Turkish drone targeted a car on the Qamishlo-Tir A Turkish drone targeted a car on the Qamishlo-Tirbespiye road two days ago. This was the 6th Turkish drone attack on NES in 5 days.
Turkish drones have attacked NES 56 times in 2022, including 18 cars.
3 people died in yesterday's attack near the village of Shorek. According to local sources, they were YPJ soldiers. At least 21 people have been killed & 63 wounded or disfigured by Turkish drone attacks in 2022.
According to local sources, the 3 killed YPJ women were targeted by a Turkish drone as they left the 'Women's Revolution Forum' last night. The Forum, hosted by the AANES, discussed the achievement of 10 years of revolution for women.
The Forum resumed today under the banner of 'Women’s struggle to protect the revolution: what are the attacks that target the gains & achievements of the revolution?'.
According to an SDF statement, the 3 women are "YPJ commander Roj Khabur, YAT commander Jiyan Tolhildan, & comrade Barin Botan." The 3 women are from Darbasiya, Afrin, & Shehba, respectively.
Commander Roj Khabur is pictured at the Forum by @syriaeveryday
June in NES is wheat harvesting season. With 450,0 June in NES is wheat harvesting season. With 450,000t expected by the end of the year, this is the second year in a row that the wheat harvest will fall significantly short of the 600,000t needed to feed NES.

Find out about the difficulties farmers face in our newest video.
Events across NES celebrated the 10th anniversary Events across NES celebrated the 10th anniversary of the 'Rojava Revolution' yesterday. Thousands from across the Jazira region participated in celebrations held at Qamishlo's 'Martyrs of the 12th of March' stadium.
In the first half of 2022, NES was subjected to 47 In the first half of 2022, NES was subjected to 47 drone attacks (in all of 2021, it was 89). These attacks wounded at least 55 & killed 16 people. Of these, at least 26 & 3, respectively, were civilians. The number is likely higher, as RIC only publishes cases it can verify.

Over 3/4 of all attacks were conducted by Turkish fixed-wing drones, such as the TB2. 11 attacks were conducted by 'suicide' drones - similar to or repurposed smaller commercial drones - which are used both by the Turkish armed forces & the Turkish-backed SNA militias.

Victims of the attacks included 2 children, lorry drivers, a poet, a translator, a vegetable seller, & Tel Tamir military council commanders on their way to try to contain the ISIS prison breakout in January.

Though not reflected in the statistics, a Turkish drone strike also killed deputy chairman of the AANES Executive Council Ferhad Şiblî in Iraqi Kurdistan in June.

The location of the drone strikes included a vegetable market in Qamishlo, a veterans' rehabilitation center in Himo, an internal security office in Zirgan, a power station near Derik, downtown Kobane, & a gynecologist office in Tel Rifaat.

42% of all attacks were conducted in the Jazira region. Of these, almost half targeted the Darbasiyah-Amude-Qamishlo road or the cities themselves, & only 7 the Zirgan & Tel Tamir frontlines. 

In all of NES, 14 of the Turkish drone attacks targeted vehicles.

The city of Kobane & its outskirts were attacked at least 7 times, twice in the city center on May 11. 

On December 25, 2021, a Turkish drone strike killed 6 youths & wounded another 3 in downtown Kobane.

25 attacks took place in February & April. The most active weeks were the first week of February, which coincided with the end of the Battle of Heseke & the beginning of joint Coalition-SDF raids against ISIS; & the week following Turkey's invasion of Iraqi Kurdistan on April 17.
شاهد المزيد Follow on Instagram

Tweets by RojavaIC

Follow us:

Facebook
Twitter

Rojava Information Center

We are committed to providing journalists, researchers and the general public with accurate, well-sourced, transparent information from on the ground in the North East Syria.

Site links

Reports

Media Coverage

Photos

Videos

2019 War: Daily Updates

Donate

Connect

Email:

press@rojavainformationcenter.org

Facebook
Twitter

Archive

  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
©2020 Rojava Information Center | Privacy Policy
Scroll to top

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our Cookie Policy.

OKLearn more

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Privacy Policy

You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.

Privacy Policy
Accept settingsHide notification only