northeast Syria

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People wave Syrian flags as they celebrate a year since the ousting of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian capital Damascus on December 8, 2025. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP via Getty Images)

Syria in Transition Series

Experts asses accountability, reconciliation, institutional reform, constitutionalism, and more in transitional Syria.
Children and adults hold candles and portraits of people killed in the conflict during a "March of Return" in Aleppo, Syria, on December 22, 2025. Displaced residents organized the event to commemorate the 2016 evacuation of eastern Aleppo and to mark the recent change in government following the collapse of the Bashar al-Assad administration. (Photo by Hibatullah Barakat / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images)

Transitional Justice in Post-Assad Syria: A Transformative Framework for Accountability and Reform

In designing an effective transitional justice framework in Syria, policymakers must employ careful sequencing, transparency, and broad participation in implementation.
Two small children unload white bags off of a big white truck with a Red Crescent sign on the side, at dusk. A woman fully covered in a black chador stands next to the truck with her back to the camera.

Syria’s Al-Hol Camp Is Closed, But Another Remains, as Does International Responsibility

Responsible states can end the chaos and suffering in remaining camps like Roj by repatriating detainees and upholding their obligations to their citizens.
A bus in a US military convoy transporting Islamic State group detainees being transferred to Iraq from Syria moves along a road on the outskirts of Qahtaniyah in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province on February 7, 2026. Iraq's judiciary announced on February 2 that it had begun investigations into more than 1,300 Islamic State group detainees who were transferred from Syria as part of a US operation. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP via Getty Images)

A Legal Black Hole: Does Iraq Have the Right to Detain Prisoners Transferred from Syria?

The Global Coalition Against Daesh faces legal and moral strain over mass detainee transfers from Syria to Iraq, testing international law and policy.
A woman in a chador, a full black covering, walks toward the camera with a young child walking on either side with smiles on their faces, against a backdrop of dirt and sand amid a sea of ragged tents, with a large red container at the back right of the photo that may hold water, in Al-Hol camp in northeast Syria.

In a New Era for Syria, States Must Take Responsibility for Their Islamic State-Affiliated Prisoners and Families

It is a matter not only of justice, law, and human dignity, but also an obligation to relieve Syrians of this war legacy as they rebuild their society.
People sit in a truck on a dusty road with a brown single-story building in the background.

Assessing Amnesties and Re-assimilation in Northeast Syria

Using amnesties, trials, and “parole boards” for detainees in northeast Syria would be consistent with the requirements of international law.
The man is holding a hose filling the barrel, while a woman watching in the background holds a child in her arm.

“Water is Life,” One Syrian Told Us. Yet It Remains Elusive for Many.

With humanitarian funding decreasing and needs growing, cholera in a camp for displaced people illustrates the dire conditions.
A woman who is covered except for her eyes carries a child in her arms as she walks along a dirt road in front of ramshackle tents, a slightly older child at her side. The heads of two young boys show in the foreground of the image.

Deaths, Torture, and Arbitrary Detention in the Wake of the Islamic State in Syria: The US Responsibility to Act

More than 56,000 people, including 30,000 children, are being held with US support and many face systematic torture and grossly inhumane conditions.
The episode title appears with sound waves behind it.

The Just Security Podcast: Counterterrorism and Human Rights (Part I Root Causes, Guantanamo, and Northeast Syria)

Perhaps no one is better equipped to consider the impact of counterterrorism on human rights than Fionnuala Ní Aoláin. This is Part 1 of a special two-part conversation.
A picture shows the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp, which holds relatives of suspected Islamic State (IS) group fighters in the northeastern Hasakeh governorate. Children are pressed against a chain link fence during a security operation by the Kurdish Asayish security forces and the special forces of the Syrian Democratic Forces, on August 26, 2022. (Photo by DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Extended Detention Compounds Trauma for Thousands of Child Victims of Terrorism in Syria Camps

Countries must accelerate repatriation of their citizens, but governments need assistance to enhance their support systems for families.

Repatriating Alleged ISIS-Linked Men from Northeast Syria: The Start of Judicial Responses to the Political Stalemate

Recent rulings may force countries to reckon with their denial of due process to the accused and justice to the victims.

As Women and Children Return to the West from Syrian Camps, Lessons From Sweden

In 57 countries, judicial systems will handle those suspected of crimes, but thousands of other individuals must be reintegrated into society.
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