Natacha Danon

Smoke rises from makeshift refineries on the outskirts of al-Omar oil field in Syria’s eastern Deir e-Zor province, 28/1/2026. The landscape is flat and dry. Behind a row of telephone poles, columns of dark smoke rise on the horizon into a pale blue sky.

🧵 As the Syrian government shuts down Deir e-Zor’s informal refineries, a local industry risks collapse even as nearby communities are likely to reap health and environmental benefits.

🔗 bit.ly/4aVv3GW

My latest from Raqqa with testimonies from former fighters, tribal leaders, and civil society figures.

Since Monday, Kobani has been besieged by government forces. Electricity has been fully cut off amid snow conditions, leading to the death of four children today. The Kurdish city acutely remembers the 2014 siege by ISIS and recurrent attacks by Jabhat al-Nusra and Turkish forces.

Residents line up to buy bread in Kobani, a Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)-held city in the northeast of Syria’s Aleppo province, 23/1/2026. People wait standing in a muddy, slushy street besides a single-story concrete building. Two men walk past the line carrying bundles of bread wrapped in plastic.

🧵 Encircled by government forces and without basic services, residents of Kurdish-majority Kobani fear a return to the city’s darkest days as the end of a fragile ceasefire approaches.

🔗 bit.ly/4t4eXmz

The Cooperative in Tartus Bridging Syria’s Divides Squatting in the ruins of former military barracks, families and activists are finding work, housing and a community of those scarred by war and sectarianism

NEW: A former military barracks on Syria’s coast has become a sanctuary of coexistence. In Tartus, the Solidarity Fields co-op helps displaced families rebuild lives and bridge wartime divisions, reports @natachadanon.bsky.social

newlinesmag.com/spotlight/th...

A man walks past a mural depicting supporters and members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Syria’s northeastern Qamishli city, 16/12/2024. In the mural, figures wearing military uniforms wave the yellow flags of the SDF and the YPG.

🧵 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

People watch as the trial of 14 suspects accused of participating in violence and massacres on Syria’s Alawite-majority coast earlier this year begins at the Palace of Justice in Aleppo city, 18/11/2025. Judge Zakariya Bakkar, a man with gray hair, speaks into a microphone. A Syrian flag appears at the left of the picture, while the foreground shows cameras and the spectators' backs.

🧵 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

What the PKK’s exit from Turkey means for the Middle East As the PKK withdraws fighters from Turkey, could the group double down on its presence in Iraq and Syria?

My piece for @thenewarab.bsky.social on what the PKK withdrawal from Turkey could mean for its presence in Syria and Iraq.

www.newarab.com/analysis/wha...

With olive harvest underway, obstacles remain for Afrin residents 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.

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...

Despite Russia's direct role in the Syrian conflict, Damascus and Moscow are seeking renewed ties based on mutual strategic interests in an international context where both have limited if any recognition from the West. My latest for @syriadirect.bsky.social.

In Syria’s Hama province, thousands of displaced Alawites are unable to return to houses and lands now occupied by their former Sunni neighbors, whose own homes were destroyed. With property disputes unresolved and pistachio orchards neglected, social cohesion and the local economy risk collapse.

In my view, in addition to trying to get buy-in from Middle Eastern countries for the ceasefire agreement, Washington is also trying to pave the way for Ankara to play a more diplomatic role in the Syrian context without recourse to military action as it has long threatened.

“You get the sense that they’re just checking boxes,” Rana Ali, a feminist and human rights activist, told me. She was disqualified from running as a parliamentary candidate from her home district of Nabek on unknown grounds.

My latest for @thenewarab.bsky.social on the future of Palestinian factions in exile. As one former leader in Islamic Jihad told me, “resistance must come from within Palestine.”

My latest reporting from the Damascus suburbs of al-Somoriyeh on the controversial eviction of an Alawite slum, which will mark the first real test on property rights for the nascent Syrian administration. ⬇️

My latest for @thenewarab.bsky.social on what the impacts of the latest sectarian violence in Sweida could mean for northeast Syria.

An aerial view of Druze-majority Suwayda city in southern Syria, 18/7/2025

🧵 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

French President Emmanuel Macron (right) and Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa attend a joint press conference in Paris during al-Sharaa’s first visit to Europe since overthrowing Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, 7/5/2025

🧵 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

Hassan Tamim, 52, looks out the window of his apartment at the skeletons of neighboring buildings in the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus, 30/4/2025. Tamim smokes a cigarette and wears a paint-flecked shirt.

🧵 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

A billboard in Damascus thanks Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and US President Donald Trump shortly after the latter announced his country would lift sanctions on Syria during a state visit to Riyadh, 14/5/2025

🧵 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

Syrians fleeing violence in Syria’s coastal provinces cross the Nahr al-Kabir river into northern Lebanon’s Akkar region, 11/3/2025. Men, women and children carry bags of their belongings while wading through a shallow river.

🧵 With dwindling aid and delays in registering informally with the UNHCR, tens of thousands of newly arrived Syrian refugees in Lebanon are largely on their own.

🔗 bit.ly/4kXhv0V

My latest reporting from Homs, which has become a hotspot for extrajudicial killings of former members of the regime and sectarian violence against civilians, with the participation of the state security services, according to eyewitnesses.

The story of farmers in southwest Syria, swathes of which Israeli forces have seized since the fall of the al-Assad regime, echoes that of Palestinian farmers across the border, as they fight for their lands and their livelihoods. My latest for @newlinesmag.

“The [Aleppo] agreement represents confidence-building between the Autonomous Administration and the government in Damascus,” said Ahmad Araj, the head of a party that is part of the political wing of the Syrian Democratic Forces. “It will cover all Autonomous Administration areas if it succeeds.”

Residents gather to commemorate the revolution and siege of Yarmouk camp, 28/3/2025. Men, women and children stand in front of rows of plastic chairs on an asphalt surface. One person holds a Palestinian flag, while martyr posters hang on a damaged building in the background.

Posters hung in Yarmouk camp to remember those lost since the revolution began in 2011. They show (from left to right) Wasim Seyam, Ayman Joudah and Hassan Hassan, 28/3/2025.

A poster hung in Yarmouk during an event commemorating the Syrian revolution and the devastating siege of the camp reads: “We dared to dream and we will not regret dignity,” 28/3/2025 The image includes two raised fists, one holding a Syrian revolution flag and the other holding a Palestinian flag.

Protestors gather at Umayyad Square to denounce Israeli occupation and attacks in southern Syria. One sign (far right) reads: “From the Golan to Jerusalem, the occupation is temporary,” 28/3/2025. The Damascene sword monument can be seen in the background, behind a man holding up a Palestinian flag.

📸 Syrian-Palestinians gathered in Yarmouk to commemorate the revolution and regime siege of the camp on Friday, then joined a demonstration in Umayyad Square to denounce Israel’s incursion and attacks in southern Syria.

✍️ @natachadanon.bsky.social

bit.ly/3Y43hSM

Syrians protest Israeli interference in Syria at a demonstration in Druze-majority Suwayda city. One demonstrator holds a sign reading “Netanyahu, you supporter of the [Assad] barrel bomb regime, leave the minorities alone." The Arabic separates Netanyahu's name into "Netan" and "Yahu," a play on words that could be translated as "Nasty [Netan]yahu."

🧵 As Tel Aviv projects itself as the protector of Syria’s Druze, hate speech against the community has propagated, despite the stance of many Druze activists against Israel.

🔗 bit.ly/4ipdCRz

Syrians in the Druze-majority province of Suwayda chant in support of Syrian unity following the conclusion of an agreement between Damascus and the US-backed SDF to integrate forces.

Syrians in the Druze-majority province of Suwayda gather in Dignity Square to denounce the killing of civilians on the Syrian coast over the weekend as former regime elements clashed with government security forces.

“The National Dialogue should not end today,” Sawsan Abu Zeineddin, executive director of the civil society network Madaniya, said. There should be “should be a dialogue process that extends over a sufficient period of time…to allow broader participation."

My latest for @syriadirect.bsky.social.

Syrians are forced to weigh between two difficult futures in Syria and Lebanon. Tens of thousands of Syrians who fled during Israel’s offensive are returning to Lebanon, alongside new arrivals, despite a growing crackdown on refugees.

My latest: bit.ly/4hT6VqD