Assyrians in Syria also known as Syriacs are an ethnic and linguistic minority that are indigenous to Upper Mesopotamia, the north-eastern half of Syria. Syrian-Assyrians are people of Assyrian descent living in Syria, and those in the Assyrian diaspora who are of Syrian-Assyrian heritage.
Al-Hasakah is the capital city of the Al-Hasakah Governorate, in the northeastern corner of Syria. With a 2023 estimated population of 422,445 Al-Hasakah is predominantly populated by Arabs with large numbers of Kurds, Assyrians and a smaller number of Armenians and Chechens. Al-Hasakah is 80 kilometres south of the city of Qamishli. The Khabur River, a tributary of the Euphrates River, flows west–east through the city. The Jaghjagh River flows into the Khabur from the north at Al-Hasakah. The city is controlled by the AANES.
The People's Defense Units (YPG), also called People's Protection Units, is a socialist US-backed Kurdish militant group in Syria and the primary component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The Battle of Ras al-Ayn was a series of armed clashes for control of the town of Ras al-Ayn during the Syrian Civil War, mainly between the Kurdish-majority People's Protection Units (YPG) and an alliance of Syrian rebel groups, with the occasional involvement of the Syrian Armed Forces. As result of the battle's first phase, the Syrian Army was expelled from the city by Syrian rebels, whereupon the latter attacked the YPG-affiliated fighters in Ras al-Ayn. In the following months, the city was effectively divided into rebel-held and YPG-held areas, with intermittent fighting resulting in the gradual expansion of the YPG's territory in the city and its surroundings. Islamist and jihadist factions soon became dominant among the rebels in the region, further contributing to tensions with the secular-leftist YPG. In July 2013, the battle's final phase erupted and ended when an alliance of YPG-led troops completely expelled the rebels from Ras al-Ayn.
The Rojava–Islamist conflict, a major theater in the Syrian civil war, started after fighting erupted between the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and Islamist rebel factions in the city of Ras al-Ayn. Kurdish forces launched a campaign in an attempt to take control of the Islamist-controlled areas in the governorate of al-Hasakah and some parts of Raqqa and Aleppo governorates after al-Qaeda in Syria used those areas to attack the YPG. The Kurdish groups and their allies' goal was also to capture Kurdish areas from the Arab Islamist rebels and strengthen the autonomy of the region of Rojava. The Syrian Democratic Forces would go on to take substantial territory from Islamist groups, in particular the Islamic State (IS), provoking Turkish involvement in the Syrian Civil War.
The Syriac Security Office, commonly known as the Sutoro or the Sutoro Police, is a Assyrian Christian police force in Jazira Region of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria in Syria, where it works in concert with the general Asayish police force of the canton with the mission to police ethnic Assyrian areas and neighbourhoods. Its establishment is associated with the Syriac Union Party (SUP).
The siege of Kobanî was launched by the Islamic State (IS) on 13 September 2014, in order to capture the Kobanî Canton and its main city of Kobanî in northern Syria, in the de facto autonomous region of Rojava.
The Eastern al-Hasakah offensive was launched in the Al-Hasakah Governorate during the Syrian Civil War, by the Kurdish-majority People's Protection Units, Assyrian Christian militias, and allied Arab forces against the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, with the intent of retaking the areas of the Jazira Canton that had been captured by ISIL. Subsequently, the Syrian Armed Forces also launched an assault against the jihadists, without coordinating with the YPG.
The Western al-Hasakah offensive, dubbed Operation Commander Rûbar Qamishlo by the Kurds, was a military operation during May 2015 in the Al-Hasakah Governorate, during the Syrian Civil War, conducted by Kurdish YPG and allied forces against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. On 31 May 2015, as most of the offensive operations in the western Al-Hasakah Governorate ended, the part of the offensive in the Ras al-Ayn District expanded into the Tell Abyad region, in the northern Raqqa Governorate.
The Al-Hasakah city offensive was launched during the Syrian Civil War by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant against the city of Al-Hasakah, which was held by both the Syrian Armed Forces and the Kurdish YPG.
The 2015 Battle of al-Hasakah started as an offensive launched in the Al-Hasakah Governorate during the Syrian Civil War, in which the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) attempted to capture the city of Al-Hasakah, which was divided into two areas held separately by the Syrian Armed Forces and the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG). On 17 July, YPG-led forces captured all of the roads and villages surrounding Al-Hasakah, fully besieging the ISIL militants remaining inside of the city. On 28 July, YPG forces and the Syrian Army expelled ISIL from most of Al-Hasakah, with two ISIL pockets persisting near the Al-Zuhour District and the southern entrance. On 1 August, the city was fully cleared of ISIL fighters.
The following is a timeline of the Syrian Civil War from January to July 2015. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian Civil War.
Relations between the People's Protection Units (YPG) and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) are unclear and varied among the different FSA factions. Both are opposed to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. However, several clashes between the two have taken place. Under pressure from the United States, some FSA groups coordinate with the YPG to battle ISIL under the name of the Syrian Democratic Forces, although some other FSA groups remained in conflict with the YPG and the SDF, including FSA groups in the SDF.
AANES–Ba'athist Syria relations concern the military and political relations between the Ba'athist Syrian Arab Republic and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), a de facto autonomous multi-ethnic region in northern and eastern Syria. The Syrian government does not officially recognise the autonomy of the AANES, and advocates a centralist approach to the governance of Syria. The NES seeks the federalisation of Syria. For most of the Syrian civil war, there has been a non-aggression pact between the military of Syria and the Syrian Democratic Forces, with occasional confrontations and some cooperation against Islamist groups, in particular against the Turkish Armed Forces and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army. While the two sides co-operated militarily under Russian supervision since 2019, with Syrian and Russian troops stationed along the Turkish border to prevent further advances, political negotiations have ended in failure. The Syrian government has no authority or institutions in North and East Syria outside of its two security boxes in Qamishli/Qamislo and Al-Hasakah/Heseke. The Autonomous Administration did not allow the Syrian Government to hold elections in areas under its control.
The Rojava conflict, also known as the Rojava Revolution, is a political upheaval and military conflict taking place in northern Syria, known among Kurds as Western Kurdistan or Rojava.
The 2016 Battle of Qamishli was a violent urban battle between the Asayish police of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria and the pro-Syrian government National Defence Forces in the city of Qamishli, Syria.
The 2016 Battle of al-Hasakah was fought between the paramilitary police of the Asayish and the People's Protection Units (YPG), against the pro-government National Defence Forces and the Syrian Arab Army, backed by the Syrian Arab Air Force, in the city of al-Hasakah, Syria.
The Anti-Terror Units are the special forces of the Syrian Democratic Forces, consisting of the best trained and equipped members of the People's Protection Units (YPG) and Women's Protection Units (YPJ). They were led by the Syrian Kurdish commander Ali Boutan until his death in 2016, then by Shervan Kobani until his death in 2023. YAT is trained by United States special operations forces and the CIA.
The al-Hasakah Governorate campaign was a multi-sided military conflict between Syrian government forces, Kurdish forces, armed Syrian opposition groups, and Salafist jihadist forces, including al-Qaeda's Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and the al-Nusra Front in the al-Hasakah Governorate as part of the Syrian Civil War. The clashes began with the People's Protection Units (YPG)'s entrance into the civil war in July 2012 and spread across the governorate.
The Battle of Qamishli (2021) took place between security forces of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) and forces loyal to the Syrian Arab Republic in the northeastern Syrian city of Qamishli. The clashes began on 20 April 2021, after Asayish targeted a vehicle carrying pro-Syrian government NDF militia fighters. The clashes were conducted with medium and light weapons such as AK-47s as well as RPGs.
