Tishrin Offensive

On December the 23rd the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) made an official announcement about an upcoming offensive. Their goal was to liberate areas south of Kobane, the main goal was taking Tishrin Dam from ISIS. It took them less than four days. After taking the dam they went west of the Euphrates river with the help of the International Coalition. This map shows the areas recently liberated by the SDF. It might be outdated since there are already some reports claiming that SDF is advancing towards Manbij and are currently around Abu Qelqel.

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A cinema was opened in Afrin

In Afrin a cinema was opened. The cinema is meant to show classics, self-made movies and possibly also new movies.

Distribution of seeds to farmers

The Agriculture Commission of Afrin has distributed 435 tons of wheat seeds to farmers in the areas around Afrin. This amount of wheat seeds was being distributed from October 2015 until now. There are four types of wheat seeds available.



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Second theatre festival in Afrin

In Afrin the second theatre festival started. In this festival cultural plays, (short) movies, poems, paintings and music pieces are shown and played to the public.

This video is a play from the previous festival:

Christmas

Christians in Hasakah Governorate celebrated Christmas under protection of Sutoro (Syriac Security Office). All went well. Here is video footage from a Christmas church service.

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Cleaning Kobani

The Kobani municipality started a campaign to clean the parks. Next to cleaning the parks they will also plant new trees. After this campaign is done the workers will move on to clean and plant gardens in Kobani.



Chengal 74: The Movie

A movie about Shengal is in the making. It is written and directed by Biryar Kuti. The film is made with the participation of the Kurdish artist committees. The movie might appear online, we will hear more about it soon.

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Leaflets dropped on ISIS territory

The international coalition dropped leaflets on ISIS-held territory south of Kobane. The leaflets say that the end of ISIS is near.

Landmine clearance

Wherever ISIS has been in Rojava, there are almost surely landmines. It is used as a strategy to slow down the advancement of SDF. The SDF has a special IED-Clearance team, a police group also knows how to handle it and there is an international IED-Clearance organisation (MAG) active in the region. Slowly the land is being cleansed from landmines and boobytraps.

The Ezidi network saved multiple people from ISIS captivity

The Ezidi Network is a network that tries to save as many kidnapped Ezidis as possible. Recently they saved many people.

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