Navigating Fragmentation: Improving Free Movement in Northwest Syria

English and Arabic versions | تحميل عربي

Authors: Juline Beaujouan, in collaboration with (in alphabetical order): Muhannad al-Rish; Abdallah El hafi; Eyas Ghreiz; Ayham Odat

This policy brief discusses how the humanitarian community can contribute to the creation of “peace routes” across conflict lines and borders, the network of responsibility and trust in the process of humanitarian coordination, and the impact of such practices on various governance actors. Recommendations are provided for the interim and Salvation governments, the international community, and donors.

Over a decade of violent conflict has left deep scars on the Syrian socio-political and geographical landscape. The country is fragmented into four governance and territorial entities, and communities are divided by conflict lines. Yet, global challenges – such as the Syrian refugee crisis, the threat posed by transnational radical groups, and most recently the Covid-19 pandemic – do not stop at borders. Identifiable “fragments” do not operate in complete isolation and are indeed interdependent.

The Navigating Fragmentation series of policy briefs has been developed from a research project that focused on the ever-evolving and interactive process of fragmentation in Syria and dynamics of “rebordering” (Vignal, 2017) during and after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Humanitarian aid, borders and conflict lines (policy brief)

Improving free movement in Daraa (policy brief)