Last week, the US Treasury Department announced sanctions against two Turkish-supported Sunni Islamist militias based in Syria. The organizations are the Hamza Division and the Suleiman Shah Brigade. The announcement of the sanctions noted that the
BEHIND THE LINES: There are no independent enclaves remaining in Syria today. Everyone is working for someone else. In the case of northwest Syria, the Islamist factions that rule work for Turkey.
Nadia Hassan Suleiman remembers well the day she was arrested. It was in the city of Afrin, northwest Syria, in June 2018. Her husband, Ahmed Rashid, had disappeared two months earlier. She had received a voice message from him. The men who pulled up in
BEHIND THE LINES: With no charges brought against her, and no legal process, Nadia was imprisoned in a series of unofficial jails across northwest Syria.