People flocked to the markets of northern Syria's Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli on December 30, 2019, ahead of the New Year.

This year saw the city subject to repeated unrest. An already present Islamic State (ISIS) threat was exacerbated by Turkey’s  Operation Peace Spring, which saw the city shelled by Turkish-backed Syrian proxies in October. 

The Turkish incursion has seen waves of people displaced from elsewhere in Northern Syria flee to the city. Hundreds of thousands of civilians were displaced by the operation, whose stated aim was to clear the Kurdish-led Peoples' Protection Units (YPG) from the Syria-Turkey border.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) diverted their efforts towards the Turkish invasion, leaving the city even more vulnerable to attacks from ISIS. The city was was rocked by a string of explosions in October and November, when 6 people were killed - though ISIS did not claim responsibility for the attacks.

Photo: AFP / Delil Souleiman