Two prominent Kurdish universities, including the largest higher education institution in the Kurdish-held areas (Rojava), have rejected decisions by Syria’s Ministry of Higher Education to merge into the country’s university system, demanding that their academic autonomy, Kurdish identity, and existing departments be preserved.

Heavy rainfall and flash floods have damaged thousands of dunams of farmland in Syria’s eastern provinces of Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa, submerging crops and threatening farmers’ livelihoods as authorities assess the losses and consider support measures, state media reported on Monday.

Nejla Khelaf is among the thousands of displaced Kurds who still retains some dimmed level of hope to return to her home in Sare Kani (Ras al-Ayn), a town in northeast Syria (Rojava) to which return has halted indefinitely after rioters attacked a convoy carrying the internally-displaced persons (IDPs) to another Kurdish town in late October.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has pledged to promote protections for ethnic minorities in Syria as part of efforts to strengthen the rule of law, following attacks on Kurdish families attempting to return to their homes in the country’s northeast.

Tensions erupted on Wednesday around a camp housing French foreign fighters in northeastern Syria’s Idlib province after masked gunmen shot and killed the group's commander, a UK-based human rights observer told Rudaw.

The planned return of 800 displaced families to Sare Kani (Ras al-Ayn) in northeast Syria (Rojava) has been postponed indefinitely following Monday’s attack on a Kurdish IDP convoy in nearby Gire Spi (Tel Abyad), Sare Kani’s Displaced Persons Committee announced Wednesday.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi headed to Syria on Wednesday on his first official visit to Damascus since taking office, as Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa called for closer economic and security cooperation between the neighboring countries, highlighting opportunities to develop oil export routes and address shared regional challenges.

A joint Syrian-Jordanian security committee is set to meet in two days to investigate Jordan's airstrikes in the southern province of Daraa, a Syrian government source said, seeking to contain tensions after seven civilians were killed in attacks Amman said targeted Islamic State (ISIS) positions, with Syria reopening its main border crossing with Jordan.