JENDERES — Kneeling beneath the generous branches of a decades-old olive tree, Agid Ahmad, 66, and his wife Fatima Khalil, 58, (pseudonyms) gather its small black fruits from the coarse, red earth. Working under the strong October sun, the couple chat lazily in their native Kurdish, sorting and tossing ripe olives into a large plastic bucket beside them. 

It is harvest time in Afrin, a Kurdish-majority region of northwestern Syria. Afrin is home to around 15 million olive trees that, local agricultural officials estimate, produce up to half of the country’s olive oil. Olives are not only the economic backbone of Afrin, but a symbol of the area and of its people’s connection to the land. 

The olive harvest typically runs from mid-October to December, but Ahmad and Khalil expect their harvest in Afrin’s Jenderes district to last only one week and yield between 200 and 250 kilograms of olives—far from the 8,000 kilograms they remember collecting before the war. Over the years, their yields have progressively fallen due to the compounding impacts of conflict and a changing climate. 

Afrin’s iconic olives were reflected in the name of the Turkish-backed offensive that seized control of the region from local Kurdish forces in 2019. Operation Olive Branch displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians, and left those who remained living under a patchwork of warlords and Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) factions that seized civilian property and harassed and extorted residents. 

The olive harvest, in particular, was a cash cow for the factions, through “systematic and widespread practices of looting and extortion,” rights organization Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ) wrote in a report this month. Farmers had to pay taxes—the name and amount of which varied depending on the village and faction—in order to harvest their own crops and sell their oil.

Since the fall of the Assad regime last December, and the reorganization of SNA factions and fighters under the transitional government’s Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Interior, conditions have improved in much of Afrin. Still, former factions “exercise de facto control over large parts of Afrin” amid “widespread impunity,” STJ noted. 

“Factions used to steal, but now it is much less,” Khalil told Syria Direct. Still, she and her husband—like other Kurdish residents Syria Direct spoke to—remain wary, and thefts have been reported during this year’s harvest. “The security forces, the courts, they’re all in their hands—none of us are represented among them, we can’t decide anything,” Ahmad said.

Olives harvested in the Jenderes district of Syria’s northwestern Afrin region, 16/10/2025(Natacha Danon/Syria Direct)

A diminished harvest 

For already struggling olive farmers, this year’s historic drought in Syria dealt a heavy blow. The Afrin Agricultural Directorate told Syria Direct this year’s harvest is 10 percent of what it usually is due to lack of rainfall, which has decreased year after year. 

Wells have run dry, and rainfall levels are at record lows. Additionally, many farmers have not been able to afford agricultural inputs such as fertilizer and pesticides.

In past years, “the factions cut down 30 percent of our olive trees and sold them for firewood,” Khalil said. “Entire forests are gone and Maydanki Lake was emptied—it used to water all of Jenderes.” After a devastating February 2023 earthquake, local Turkish-backed authorities released half the water stored in the lake behind the Maydanki Dam, citing concerns of damage to the structure.

“The lack of water has taken a toll on the trees over the years,” Khalil added. 

Ahmad and Khalil have not faced any harassment this year, but their small harvest leaves them with barely enough olive oil for their family of eight, and they will not be able to sell any of it to pay off their debts. 

In recent years, the couple borrowed $12,000 for bribes they paid to a local SNA faction in a fruitless effort to secure the release of their son, who was arrested in 2019 at the age of 16. He was accused of ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkey considers a terrorist organization, and is still detained. 

The outer wall of a military police station in Jenderes is painted with the Turkish and Syrian flags, 16/10/2025 (Natacha Danon/Syria Direct)

Fewer violations

Of the original population of 120,000 in Jenderes and the surrounding area, only 30 percent have returned since the regime fell, according to the local council. “Many have not returned—some for economic reasons, as they lack the financial means to return, others for educational reasons, and still others due to living conditions,” said Shams al-Din Huto, the local council president. A native of Jenderes, he was appointed council president in July.

“Most homes in Jenderes were damaged or destroyed, either because of the war or because of the [2023] earthquake,” Huto explained. The 7.8-magnitude quake in southeastern Turkey and northwestern Syria flattened entire neighborhoods in Jenderes, which was one of the worst-hit parts of the country. Bombardment during Operation Peace Spring, and looting by Turkish-backed factions in its wake, also left many homes damaged and empty. 

During the 2019 operation, Ahmad and Khalil fled Jenderes with their family for two months. They returned “to nothing, everything had been stolen,” Khalil says. Until now, they have not been able to replace what they lost. Homes whose owners did not return were occupied by SNA fighters, or inhabited by displaced civilians from other parts of Syria, for years.

Mustafa Aliko (a pseudonym), 62, said his brother’s home was seized in 2019 and remains occupied. “I haven’t issued a complaint because the army, the police, the courts, they’re all from them,” he said. “I want safety, security, and the rule of law in Afrin for everyone.” However, he acknowledged conditions have generally improved since the regime fell, adding “the security situation is better than before and the violations are not excessive.”

In recent months, as tens of thousands of Afrin residents returned, some found those occupying their homes demanding money they could not pay in order to leave. Syrian authorities have moved to evict some of those occupying homes in Afrin, sparking tensions and demonstrations.

Despite ongoing challenges, livelihoods in Jenderes have “somewhat” improved, according to Huto. “Before, we were deprived of our lands, whereas today many have been able to return,” he said. The over 30 checkpoints once held by factions who extorted residents have been dismantled, except at the entrances of Jenderes. “The situation has changed, we can go and come back to Aleppo—before this was impossible,” he added.

Huto has been working closely with the governor of Aleppo to facilitate returns to Jenderes and the neighboring Kurdish villages in Afrin. “The governor says he will try to reduce taxes as much as possible and return people to their lands,” he said. 

“Officially there are no taxes, but the region’s economic committee could take a portion of the harvest belonging to absentee landlords to protect the harvest—or expropriate the lands entirely if they are accused of being a part of the PKK,” he added. “The governor says nothing should be taken, but the reality is different.”

In other parts of Afrin, economic committees tied to former factions have reportedly resumed taxes on olive production, as well as property seizures.

Rows of olive trees in the Jenderes area of Afrin, 15/10/2025 (Natacha Danon/Syria Direct)

‘Individual transgressions’

Earlier this month, Brahim Ali (a pseudonym) was sleeping under the stars in his family’s olive grove to watch for would-be thieves when three gunmen approached him. “They tied my wrists and ankles, covered my face with my sweater, and beat me up,” he recalled. The men left the trees alone, but stole $300 in cash, alongside his phone, identity card and newly installed solar panels used to pump water. 

“They were wearing black military attire, but I don’t know if they belonged to general security,” Ali said. “I reported the incident to general security, but it took them six hours to come and nothing happened.” Like other sources, he said he does not feel fully represented or protected by the state. 

In Jenderes and the rest of Afrin, most members of the General Security Service are affiliated with the nominally dissolved SNA factions, Jenderes local council president Huto said. While the transitional government announced in August that local residents—including Kurds—would be integrated into the new security forces, it has yet to fully implement the decision.

Abu Omar (a pseudonym), a member of general security in Afrin who asked not to be identified, said the incorporation of local residents is underway.  “A total of 1,200 Kurds out of the 3,000 names that were submitted [to join general security] have been approved after confirming they have no affiliation with the PKK,” he told Syria Direct. 

Abu Omar, who is originally from Idlib, previously fought with the SNA faction Failaq al-Sham before joining the Turkish-backed Syrian Interim Government’s military police in 2018. 

“Before, there was an ocean of cases of theft because there was a large population with displaced people in a small village and no one knew each other—each faction had a fiefdom,” Abu Omar explained. Since the fall of the regime, however, he said there were only “individual transgressions, not generalized violations against Kurds.” Members of general security who commit violations are being punished and held accountable, he said.

“If a soldier is hungry, he steals. The first thing they need to do is raise wages,” Abu Omar added. While monthly salaries have been increased from $80 to $200 since the fall of the regime, around $500 is needed to live comfortably, he said.

He acknowledges there are homes that remain occupied by fighters and displaced people. “The Arabs of northeastern Syria are difficult because they cannot return to their homes, as their villages and cities are occupied by the PKK-affiliated SDF,” he said. In Jenderes and the surrounding areas, everyone has been able to return to their homes except for members of the SDF, he added.

Ultimately, Abu Omar wants to go home too—back to his Idlib hometown. “Everyone in the security forces wants to go home. The people of Jenderes will eventually take control,” he said.