Alexander McKeever

not to mention Deir ez-Zour city, though all goes to show you what folly mapping develops like that can be (troops moving around a vacuum)

pre-Dec 8th

My estimation SDF control in S. al-Raqqah, expansion btw 0-25km along the entire front post-Dec 8
-2 oil fields S of Tabqah
-Resafa and som desert villages
-more of the Salamiyah road, including stretch btw Tabqah turnoff and Resafa
-about 5 towns and a number of villages on the Euphrates right bank

from what i can tell with mid range satellite imagery these are the current front lines (you can actually make out the pre-Dec one based on ground color)

last SDF checkpoint on Salamiyah road seems to be here 35.532576, 38.336934 (pic 2). and Resafa is within berms dugs this spring

Weekend notes Gov't/SDF crossings, a Turan Tugayı update, the founding of al-Qamishli

A look at the four crossings btw Gov't/SDF areas (three of them currently closed), Central Asian SNA faction Turan Tugayi's roots in jihadist faction al-Tawhid wa'l-Jihad, an excerpt on the founding of Qamishli during the French Mandate

akmckeever.substack.com/p/weekend-no...

Weekend notes Gov't/SDF crossings, a Turan Tugayı update, the founding of al-Qamishli

Yeah I need to adjust my base map. I touch on the oil fields here - def seems to be the case though i don't think they moved the crossing checkpoint, need to look more into Resafa

akmckeever.substack.com/p/weekend-no...

www.google.com/maps/place/%...

Last year IS claimed ~250 attacks vs the SDF, so far this year only 99. Geographically these have been even more concentrated within Deir ez-Zour (80% vs 72%), with the center of insurgency shifting slightly upriver from the Busayrah to Kasrah region... 20 attacks claimed in Muhaimidah village only

The American military footprint in northeastern Syria Current bases in SDF-controlled territory and other somewhat relevant sites

For more on these facilities and those in use at the beginning of the year see here:

akmckeever.substack.com/p/the-us-mil...

DoD now using the name 'Northern Landing Zone' for the Qasrak/Jabal Ghul base in NW al-Hasakah. Reports that US presence has largely consolidated to three bases in al-Hasakah: NLZ, Rumeilan Landing Zone (RLZ), and Patrol Base al-Shaddadi (PBS)

www.dvidshub.net/image/940506...

36.706242, 40.511955

This Week in Northern Syria [44.2025] November 12 - 18: latest in integration negotiations, front line clashes in southeastern al-Raqqah, Shammar sheikh visits Gov't areas, and more...

Latest issue covers several days of Govt/SDF front line clashes in SE Raqqah, SDF-allied Shammar sheikh Mani' Humaidi's visit to Homs and Damascus, reported SDF focus pts for upcoming talks with Gov't, in addition to other local news from Aleppo and NES

akmckeever.substack.com/p/this-week-...

Weekend notes Gov't/SDF crossings, a Turan Tugayı update, the founding of al-Qamishli

A look at the four crossings btw Gov't/SDF areas (three of them currently closed), Central Asian SNA faction Turan Tugayi's roots in jihadist faction al-Tawhid wa'l-Jihad, an excerpt on the founding of Qamishli during the French Mandate

akmckeever.substack.com/p/weekend-no...

I did have Islamo-MAGA-communism on my 2025 bingo card

really funny thinking comparatively about how little trump was successfully charmed by elon or jd vance

Trump is now defending Mamdani in response to loaded questions from Fox News. incredible scenes

he never looks at JD that way

👀

The civilian and commercial crossings btw Gov't/SDF
Orange:
-Deir Hafir (Aleppo), closed by the Gov't since early last month
-Ithriyah road (Raqqah), same as above
-Ma'dan (Raqqah), closed by the Gov't this morning

Green:
-Deir ez-Zour, open

Red:
-M4/Qaraqozak bridge, closed all year (since Dec)

This Week in Northern Syria [44.2025] November 12 - 18: latest in integration negotiations, front line clashes in southeastern al-Raqqah, Shammar sheikh visits Gov't areas, and more...

Latest issue covers several days of Govt/SDF front line clashes in SE Raqqah, SDF-allied Shammar sheikh Mani' Humaidi's visit to Homs and Damascus, reported SDF focus pts for upcoming talks with Gov't, in addition to other local news from Aleppo and NES

akmckeever.substack.com/p/this-week-...

First MAGA hat I've seen in Jordan belongs to a Talabat driver with salafi facial hair

if i remember correctly the unusual aesthetics

I forgot about this controversial mosque that opened up in Idlib last year

Roger Lescot's "Kurd Dagh and the Muroud Movement" (1940) part III Appendix: The Tribes of Kurd Dagh

The appendix of a 1940 booklet by French orientalist Roger Lescot detailing Kurdish tribes in Afrin

akmckeever.substack.com/p/rober-lesc...

Roger Lescot's "Kurd Dagh and the Muroud Movement" (1940) part III Appendix: The Tribes of Kurd Dagh

The appendix of a 1940 booklet by French orientalist Roger Lescot detailing Kurdish tribes in Afrin

akmckeever.substack.com/p/rober-lesc...

Via Constitutional Declaration "the right to political participation and the freedom to form political parties" are "conditional on... a new political party law" which has yet to be issued...

"the absence of a framework for party formation renders genuine political organisation all but impossible"

Weekend notes A 2017-2024 HTS timeline, newly discovered Coalition outpost in al-Hasakah, and former SAA bases in NES

This weekend's post includes a timeline I wrote up while reading the Haenni/Drevon HTS book, a Coalition base I'd never seen before south of al-Hasakah, and a look at the pre-2011 SAA military bases in northeastern Syria

akmckeever.substack.com/p/weekend-no...

the only reason they haven't killed my 89 yr old grandma yet is she starts her sundays with church. as she likes to say: jesus in the morning, josh in the afternoon

At almost exactly the same time I published this, the YPG published a training video filmed at one of the old SAA bases I document (121st Regiment south of al-Hasakah)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=blu9...

Weekend notes A 2017-2024 HTS timeline, newly discovered Coalition outpost in al-Hasakah, and former SAA bases in NES

This weekend's post includes a timeline I wrote up while reading the Haenni/Drevon HTS book, a Coalition base I'd never seen before south of al-Hasakah, and a look at the pre-2011 SAA military bases in northeastern Syria

akmckeever.substack.com/p/weekend-no...