Monthly highlights, May 2026
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# INCREASING POPULAR PROTESTS
Protests against the Damascus government are spreading in different regions, from Raqqa to Damascus, Deir Ezzor and Aleppo. Two main sectors are raising their voice denouncing economical hardships, on one side farmers that are struggling with the wheat prices set by the Damascus government, much lower than other years, especially if compared with the price the Autonomous Administration used to buy it for. Farmers protests denounced that with the lower prices they can't even cover the costs. Another sector leading protests are the oil workers, since the Damascus government is taking control of many oil fields and excluding many oilfield workers that depended on it for survival. At the same time, protests of SDF families demanding the liberation of prisoners continue, since many SDF fighters still remain in prisons.
# FLOODS ON THE EUPHRATES RIVER
After many years of water scarcity, with Turkey keeping dams closed to diminish the water flow into Syria, massive amounts of water were let to flow in to the Euphrates river. It caused floods in many regions, especially in Raqqa and Deir Ezzor. Bridges have been destroyed, many riverside areas remain under water, with houses, orchards and farmland under water. This comes at the time of the wheat harvest season, with many farmers losing their crops that were recently harvested but still on the fields.
# PARLIAEMENT 'ELECTIONS' IN NORTHERN SYRIA
While most of Syria voted for the People’s Assembly last October, at that time NES was still under DAANES control. The North East incl. Kobani, Haseke and Qamishlo only voted now on the 24th of may. The vote was for the last 11 seats in the parliament, with a very restricted voting method. The number of voters were highly restricted, with less than 200 people allowed to vote in the different cities. A majority of Arab representatives were elected, followed by several KurdS from ENKS. PYD representatives denounced the elections as "undemocratic".
# TRANSPORT OVER SYRIA INCREASE
Partly due to the war tensions with Iran, many air traffic is being redirected over middle east. That comes at a time where Turkey and other countries are reactivating their flights to Syria, that is experiencing an increasing number of flights in their airports. Road traffic is also increasing, with the first international transit convoy that entered Syria from Turkey (in Tal Abyad/Gire Spi) heading to Iraq via the al-Yarubiyah Border Crossing.
# KURDISH LANGUAGE NATIONAL DAY
May 15th is Kurdish language day. his year particularly the day draws attention to the legal right to Kurdish language education in the constitution and laws of the new government. While al-Sharaa did sign a presidential decree guaranteeing Kurdish cultural and language rights, most Kurdish people have little trust in this. Kurdish has been was banned in Syria for decades, and is threatening to become only single subject in school (everything else being taught in Arabic), instead of a whole curriculum being taught in Kurdish. Therefor advocating for and celebrating the Kurdish language is ever so relevant today.
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# EVALUATION
The Syrian government is strengthening its position in the international political arena every day, this is evidenced by the way economic cooperation is being established between the European powers and Syria. Europe sees in Syria a promising country in which it can invest. The recent NATO exercises with the participation of the Syrian army signal to the whole world that Syria is ready for open cooperation with the West in both the political and military spheres. At the same time, the Syrian leadership, being pragmatist, does not openly take either side of the world centers of gravity, but tries to confidently balance between east and west.
Despite the relatively successful foreign policy, the internal economic affairs of Syria are not going well. Increasingly, residents of the Raqqa and Deir Ez-Zor regions are expressing dissatisfaction with rising prices. The recent floods caused by the extraordinary opening of Turkish dams seriously damaged many farmers' wheat harvest, and that will severely worsen the situation. The government's urgency on taking full control of oil business is also excluding many oil field workers, that had certain degree of autonomy on how the fields were managed when the regions were under control of SDF. Now many oil field managers and workers are leading protests in different areas, complaining about government's new policies on oil.
The autonomous administration has practically ceased to exist, giving way to state institutions. The commune system continue functioning and solving many aspects of daily life, the Syrian State have no capacity to undermine these grassroots neighborhood cooperation. Most women's institutions also continue their work. The SDF is being reorganized into 4 divisions, maintaining its independence, but not all SDF fighters can be integrated in just those 4 divisions. As ISIS and other Islamist groups are increasing it's presence (and attacks), revolutionary forces are assessing the situation, looking for ways to lay low, to not undermine the integration agreements but keeping readiness to react, expecting a rise of conflict in the near future.
There are increasing tensions about the fate of the YPJ, with big demonstrations all along northern Syria together with many shows of international solidarity in defense of YPJ. The Syrian government does not want to include YPJ units in the army, they are instead inviting them to join the police structure. Such a proposal is categorically unacceptable for YPJ, since the women's army is a critical pats of the women's revolution.
Revolutionary greetings! 🖤
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