European Asylum Support Office EASO COI Meeting Report Syria 30 November & 1 December 2017 Valletta, Malta March 2018 SUPPORT IS OUR MISSION European Asylum Support Office EASO COI Meeting Report Syria 30 November & 1 December 2017 Valletta, Malta March 2018 Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers to your questions about the European Union. Freephone number (*): 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (*) Certain mobile telephone operators do not allow access to 00800 numbers or these calls may be billed. More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (http://europa.eu). © European Asylum Support Office 2018 Reproduction is authorised, provided the source is acknowledged, unless otherwise stated. For third-party materials reproduced in this publication, reference is made to the copyrights statements of the respective third parties. Cover photo: © Shelly Kittleson, Destroyed parts of Aleppo, 2015 Neither EASO nor any person acting on its behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained herein. EASO COI MEETING REPORT - SYRIA: COI MEETING 30 NOVEMBER-1 DECEMBER 2017 — 3 Acknowledgements EASO would like to acknowledge the members of the EASO COI Specialist Network on Syria for their active contributions and participation. EASO would also like to thank the following external experts and organisations for their presentations: Christopher Kozak, Institute for the Study of War Esther van Eijk, Maastricht University Fabrice Balanche, University of Lyon 2 and Hoover Institution, Stanford University UNHCR 4 — EASO COI MEETING REPORT - SYRIA: COI MEETING 30 NOVEMBER-1 DECEMBER 2017 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................... 3 Table of Contents ...................................................................................................................... 4 Disclaimer .................................................................................................................................. 5 Glossary and Abbreviations ....................................................................................................... 6 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 10 Map of Syria............................................................................................................................. 11 1. Security situation (C. Kozak, ISW) ................................................................................... 12 1.1 Overview of Current Conflict Trends ..................................................................... 12 1.2 Local De-Escalation Zones / Administrations ......................................................... 16 1.2.1 Southern Syria Ceasefire Zone ........................................................................... 16 1.2.2 Operation Euphrates Shield (OES) Zone ............................................................ 17 1.2.3 Damascus Local Ceasefire Deals ........................................................................ 19 1.2.4 Greater Idlib Province ........................................................................................ 21 1.3 Future of Syria as a Functional State? .................................................................... 24 2. Pro-Assad forces (C. Kozak, ISW) .................................................................................... 25 2.1 Syrian Arab Ba’ath Party ........................................................................................ 25 2.2 Syrian Intelligence Services .................................................................................... 26 2.3 Syrian Arab Army (SAA) .......................................................................................... 27 2.4 Pro-Regime paramilitaries ..................................................................................... 29 2.5 Pro-regime foreign intervention ............................................................................ 32 2.6 Pro-regime foreign fighters .................................................................................... 34 2.7 Locating specific units and identifying command structures ................................ 37 Question and Answer .......................................................................................................... 37 3. Family law (E. van Eijk) .................................................................................................... 42 3.1 Family law in Syria: Historical developments......................................................... 42 3.2 Family law in Syria: A plural legal landscape .......................................................... 43 3.3 Marriage ................................................................................................................. 46 3.4 Dissolution of marriage .......................................................................................... 49 3.5 Child custody .......................................................................................................... 51 3.6 Question and Answer ............................................................................................. 51 4. New protection considerations for Syria (UNHCR) ......................................................... 52 5. Situation in Kurdish areas/Rojava (F. Balanche) ............................................................. 53 5.1 Military, sectarian, and administrative divisions .......................................................... 53 5.2 Qamishli ................................................................................................................. 58 5.3 Hasakah .................................................................................................................. 61 5.4 Question and Answer ............................................................................................. 62 6. Socio-economic aspects of the conflict (F. Balanche) .................................................... 67 Question and Answer .......................................................................................................... 81 Annex: Reading suggestions from speakers ............................................................................ 83 EASO COI MEETING REPORT - SYRIA: COI MEETING 30 NOVEMBER-1 DECEMBER 2017 — 5 Disclaimer This meeting report has been drafted by EASO on the basis of presentations, discussions, and participants’ notes to highlight the main content of the meeting and does not purport to reflect the entire proceedings. Content from the meeting has been adapted for readability and usability within this report. Variations in style, terminology, and spellings used by different speakers may also appear. The external speakers validated the information in this report and have given their consent to be quoted publicly from this report. 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Terminology used should not be regarded as indicative of a particular legal position. ‘Refugee’, ‘risk’ and similar terminology are used as a generic terminology and not as legally defined in the EU Asylum Acquis and the 1951 Refugee Convention. Neither EASO nor any person acting on its behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained in this report. The target users for this report are asylum caseworkers, COI researchers, policymakers, and decision-making authorities. 6 — EASO COI MEETING REPORT - SYRIA: COI MEETING 30 NOVEMBER-1 DECEMBER 2017 Glossary and Abbreviations AQ Al-Qaeda; militant Sunni Salafist Jihadist armed group active internationally; HTS is its affiliate in Syria Ahrar al-Sham Sunni Salafist Jihadist armed group active in Syria, particularly Idlib Province; historical ‘partner’ of HTS in Syria Ba’ath Party Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party; the ruling political party in Syria headed by (Syria) Syrian President Bashar al-Assad Hasakah Al-Hasakah; the name of both a governorate and its capital city; located in the furthest north-east corner of Syria Daesh Also referred to as Islamic State (IS), Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS); Sunni Salafist Jihadist extremist group active internationally DFNS Democratic Federation of Northern Syria; also called Rojava in Kurdish; the defacto autonomous region in Northern Syria composed of three cantons - Afrin, Kobane, and Cizire (Jazira) - and led by the Syrian Kurdish PYD Faylaq al-Rahman Sunni Islamist armed opposition group active in Eastern Ghouta outside Damascus; rival of Salafist Jihadist group Jaysh al Islam Fiqh Islamic jurisprudence; the Hanafi school is prevalent in Syria; Hanafi