🧵 A year of false starts, bloodshed, shifting balances of power and foreign intervention has produced a complicated landscape in Druze-majority Suwayda, one in which the voices calling for secession and self-rule are growing louder. 🔗 bit.ly/4pOn9VX

🧵 Once scattered and safeguarded abroad, Syria’s native seeds are taking root once more, part of an organic revival aimed at restoring the country’s agricultural heritage. 🔗 bit.ly/49iU7HZ

🧵 The first year of the “new Syria” brought relative economic stability and a marked improvement in the exchange rate of the pound, but economic burdens still weigh on Syrians. Has the cost of living crisis improved, or is it deepening? 🔗 bit.ly/453Kiex

🧵 As dozens of mass graves come to light, Syrians face the daunting task of identifying the dead and bringing closure to the families of some of the country’s more than 160,000 missing people. 🔗 bit.ly/4p6K3H2

شهد العام الأول لـ"سوريا الجديدة" استقراراً نسبياً وتحسناً ملحوظاً في سعر صرف الليرة، إلا أن الأعباء الاقتصادية ما تزال تثقل كاهل السوريين، وسط سؤال لا إجابة حاسمة له حتى الآن: هل أصبحت الحياة المعيشية أفضل من العام الماضي أم أن الأزمة المعيشية تتفاقم؟ bit.ly/3YhOnIg @syriadirect.bsky.social

Families of detainees killed under torture in regime prisons mark the first anniversary of Assad’s fall with mixed emotions, a joy that remains incomplete without justice and accountability.

🧵 As Syrians mark the first anniversary of the fall of Assad on December 8, 2024, women who survived regime detention warn their ordeal did not end when they were released. For many, society remains a second prison. 🔗 bit.ly/3XGDdfW

🧵 In the weeks after Assad fell on December 8, 2024, Khalid al-Ahmad* traveled from Raqqa to Damascus for the first time in his life. There, he was caught on video participating in celebrations. When he returned home he was arrested, held for three months without charge. 🔗 bit.ly/3XywyVb

🧵 In northeastern Syria, a growing community of artists—dancers, musicians, filmmakers—is fighting to preserve the region’s diverse heritage and sustain more than a decade of cultural revival. 🔗 bit.ly/4pcn3XE

🧵 Olive yields fell across Syria this year amid the worst drought in 60 years. In southern Daraa province, the harvest was 68% percent lower than in 2024, and 86% percent lower than in 2011. 🔗 bit.ly/4io97ax

🧵 The first trial of hundreds of suspects accused of involvement in killings on Syria’s Alawite-majority coast began on Tuesday, marking the start of a closely watched and unprecedented accountability process. 🔗 bit.ly/47MsF4P

🧵 More than 11 months on, Israel’s occupation of parts of Syria’s southwestern Quneitra province seemingly has no end in sight. 🔗 bit.ly/4nXwPvx

🧵 As Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa visits the White House, one of the topics on the table is the possibility of Syria joining the US-led international coalition against IS. What would that mean? 🔗 bit.ly/4qRFTVp

🧵 More than a month into the academic year in northeastern Syria, students enrolled in a number of schools remain locked out of their classrooms as a years-long struggle continues over what and how students learn in areas held by the SDF. 🔗 bit.ly/4i5AzKh

🧵 The Trump administration’s abrupt termination of Syrians’ Temporary Protected Status has left thousands scrambling for solutions before a November 21 deadline to self-deport or become undocumented. 🔗 bit.ly/4ogHqCE

🧵 When the regime fell last December, Abu Muhammad’s fight was over. He laid down his gun and went back to farming in Syria’s southern Daraa province. But the former fighter has not found peace of mind: friends are being killed, and he fears he may be next.

Nearly 11 months since the fall of the regime, simmering insecurity and uncontrolled weapons continue to destabilize communities and claim lives in Syria’s southern Daraa province. ✍️ @walid-alnofal.bsky.social

Diminished by drought, the olive harvest is underway in Syria’s Kurdish-majority Afrin. Residents report fewer violations than in years past, but remain wary of the new authorities. ✍️ @natachadanon.bsky.social syriadirect.org/with-olive-h...

🧵 Why is Damascus pursuing a rapprochement with Moscow despite its unpopularity, and how might it strike a balance between Syrian public opinion and strategic interests? 🔗 bit.ly/4qlY5pZ

🧵 As the Syrian government prepares to issue new banknotes and cut zeros from the country’s depreciated currency, everyday Syrians care most about easier everyday transactions. 🔗 bit.ly/4qrgD8o

🧵 As Syria stares down drought and a changing climate, farmers and officials in agriculture-dependent Daraa province grapple with how to adapt. 🔗 bit.ly/48tTagf

🧵 Clashes last week between government forces and the SDF in Aleppo city’s Kurdish Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods marked the latest setback in fitful integration efforts between the two sides. 🔗 bit.ly/46I8KUa

A ceasefire halted clashes between Syrian government forces and the SDF in two Kurdish-majority neighborhoods of Aleppo city this week, but the violence highlighted how far the two sides are from implementing stalled integration agreements. ✍️ @walid-alnofal.bsky.social & Sozdar Muhammad

🧵 Former regime soldiers say the demobilization process launched when Assad fell has stalled, leaving many in hiding and without civilian IDs—only expired “settlement cards” they fear put a target on their backs. 🔗 bit.ly/42XlCDu

As Syria holds its first post-Assad parliamentary elections, some express support for the indirect electoral process, while others criticize its lack of transparency. 🔗 bit.ly/4pWMBZO

🧵 Salamiya, a Hama province city home to most of Syria’s Ismaili minority, has been a post-Assad “success story.” Community leaders and analysts emphasize the importance of dialogue and inclusive governance in ensuring communal harmony. 🔗 bit.ly/3Kuu0UJ

🧵 Bulgarian authorities are pressuring and coercing Syrian asylum seekers to return home, part of a wider European shift that began before the fall of the Assad regime last December, but has accelerated since. 🔗 bit.ly/3IhIGG6

🧵 Historic drought, degraded infrastructure and unregulated well drilling drain Daraa’s water as authorities struggle to respond to the country’s worst water crisis in decades. 🔗 bit.ly/4nBa4yh

As Syria’s first head of state to address the UN in nearly 60 years, Ahmad al-Sharaa promised a new chapter despite a host of challenges facing his divided country's political transition. ✍️ Hanna Davis

🧵 A violent eviction raid on the Alawite slum of al-Somoriyeh in late August was part of a deeper story: a longstanding property dispute with the neighboring Sunni town of Moadamiyat al-Sham, whose residents were expropriated under Hafez al-Assad. 🔗 bit.ly/3IgyyNz

Caught between the Suwayda crisis to the east and Israeli incursions to the west, Daraa grapples with new security, economic and social challenges. ✍️ Walid Al Nofal syriadirect.org/daraa-caught...

🧵 Syrian and Lebanese officials met on Monday amid rising calls for the repatriation of more than 2,000 Syrians detained in overcrowded Lebanese prisons that have seen around 40 deaths in the past two years. 🔗 bit.ly/4n3I7y4

Syria Direct joins with more than 250 media outlets across the world to condemn the Israeli army's killings of journalists in Gaza. We also call on the Israeli authorities to allow independent access for the international press in the Gaza Strip.

🧵 Some Syrians returning from Jordan to Daraa use caravans smuggled out of Zaatari camp as temporary shelters while they work to rebuild their destroyed homes. bit.ly/4lNQXiz

🧵 After years in exile, organic farmers Bilal and Assia Abu Saleh returned home to a looted house and parched land that will be a challenge to cultivate. Yet they have a clear goal: to rebuild Syria for their children and lead it toward food sovereignty. 🔗 bit.ly/4mRqhOL

🧵 Thousands of refugees are packing up their lives and returning from Jordan’s Zaatari camp to Syria—a country that some have never known. 🔗 bit.ly/3Hq26bo

For more than a decade, Bushra and Nidal built a life and raised eight children in Amman, Jordan. Now, high costs of living and aid cuts are pushing them to return to Syria—despite the hardships waiting on the other side of the border. 🔗 bit.ly/4mQrfeg

🧵 While Damascus hails the emptying of Assad regime prisons, detainees arrested for opposing Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) continue to languish in Idlib prisons. Others have disappeared. 🔗 bit.ly/45iNMdV

🧵 In Tremseh, an idyllic village in northern Hama with a bloody past, thousands of displaced residents have found their way home. Reunited with old friends, they are working to rebuild a community and heal old scars. 🔗 bit.ly/47jFW4R

Druze and Bedouin families in southern Syria are united in pain, if little else, reeling with uncertainty and loss after days of deadly violence. Anagha Subhash Nair reports from Suwayda and Daraa: syriadirect.org/deep-grief-f...

🧵 Activists in Suwayda who were once open to the Damascus government weigh in on how their views have changed following a wave of sectarian violence—and whether any path forward remains. 🔗 bit.ly/4fb5NhB

🧵 As Europe navigates Syria’s post-Assad reality, will it walk in the US’ footsteps or chart a course of its own? 🔗 bit.ly/3GVV25W

Bedouin tribal fighters clashed with Druze forces in Syria’s southern Suwayda province on Friday, one day after reported revenge attacks in the wake of a government withdrawal touched off a new wave of sectarian violence.

The Syrian army began to withdraw from Suwayda city on Wednesday night local time, following two days of clashes with local Druze forces left hundreds dead and injured and provided an opening for expanded Israeli intervention. ✍️ Walid Al Nofal syriadirect.org/damascus-beg...

🧵 Massive wildfires that swept through Syria’s coastal forests in Latakia have been largely contained, but their impact—and the lessons learned—will be long-lasting. 🔗 bit.ly/3ItqpVU

🧵 Clashes continue in Syria’s southern Suwayda city between local armed groups and government forces that entered Tuesday morning with the stated aim of ending days of fighting between local Druze and Bedouin fighters.

🧵 Southern Idlib’s years-long water crisis is deepening as thousands of displaced residents return and increased demand strains what local infrastructure remains. 🔗bit.ly/3GENyUM

🧵 In the ruins of what was once widely regarded as the capital of the Palestinian diaspora, returnees to Syria’s Yarmouk camp are doing what they can to rebuild their lives. 🔗 bit.ly/409e13q

🧵 Hundreds of former public sector employees in Idlib, arbitrarily dismissed from their positions by the Assad regime, are still waiting for progress towards reinstatement 🔗 bit.ly/4kvM3Gi

🧵 President Donald Trump signed an executive order lifting most US sanctions on Syria this week, cementing a sea change in his country’s approach to Damascus. What explains the shift, and what could future US policy look like? 🔗 bit.ly/4kngqP0