AINISSA, Syria — On a recent reporting trip the photographer Mauricio Lima and I, along with our driver and a Syrian fixer, came to this town in the middle of nowhere in northern Syria because it is the location of the media office and headquarters of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the coalition of militias dominated by the Kurds and aligned with the American-led international coalition. We were required to report there for yet another piece of paper, having already accumulated a hefty sheaf after some eight hours of road travel over two days.

The office was in an unheated building with no telephone service, like the rest of this town, which is best known for its refugee camp for Syrians fleeing the Islamic State. Dust coated the furnishings and doors did not close properly. A dozen S.D.F. media workers milled around in the lobby and a couple of adjoining offices, and all came out to greet visitors with the ritual of multiple handshakes.

Despite the crowd, there was no one to give an interview, since the head of the office, Mustafa Bali, was said to be in Afrin, far to the west. A Turkish offensive there was threatening to overrun the Kurds’ autonomous region in northern Syria, which they now call Rojava.

The S.D.F. workers were friendly and helpful, however, and quite willing to take care of our paperwork, even though a couple of them had gathered in a back room to weep; word had just come that one of their colleagues had been killed in Deir al-Zour, in the south.