Northern Syrian Research Articles

Multiple Views on Return Migration to Northern Syria

ABSTRACTMedia, humanitarian organisations and host governments have increasingly talked about returning refugees affected by a more than a decade‐long conflict in Syria. However, the northern Syria region does not offer adequate living conditions for return; this region is currently unfit for settlement, and it is impossible to attract Syrians to return to it, regardless of the lack of security and the political issues that many scholars have discussed. This study was conducted in early 2023 in two regions including four areas in northern Syria (Jarabulus, Azaz, Al‐Bab and Afrin) and three provinces in Türkiye (Istanbul, Gaziantep and Mersin). We compare the opinions of Syrian refugees in Türkiye and Syrians who had been internally displaced and who resettled in the northern region. The purpose of the comparison is to understand the views of both Syrians in Türkiye and in northern Syria regarding whether the region is attractive to them or not. However, the results confirm that people are not willing to return, as the push factors overcome the pull factors. The data collection among Türkiye‐based Syrians and northern Syria's residents enabled us to work with different opinion‐making processes: The assessment of today's Syrian services results from the direct witness of current dwellers and the views of Türkiye‐based refugees. Through a large‐scale survey, our study aims to identify the push factors that induce refugees to discount the possibility of returning to the northern Syrian region, including the lack of job opportunities and basic services such as potable water, electricity, fuel, Internet, adequate education and healthcare.

EFL Teachers’ Perspectives on the English Textbooks of the Adopted Self-Learning Program in Northern Syria

This study investigates the perspectives of the English language teachers who teach the adopted Self-Learning Program English Textbooks in North-west Syria by evaluating the English textbooks. It analyses the effectiveness and suitability of this curriculum in non-formal education settings considering the crisis context in Syria. So, to get an actual evaluation of the English textbooks, teachers proved their viewpoints on the context of teaching and the students’ educational levels during war conditions. In this mixed method research, the first tool was a questionnaire with 49 items distributed into five structured dimensions: layout and design, the objectives of the textbook, teaching methods and activities, and language skills. The second tool focused on the qualitative data obtained from interviews with five open-ended questions. A total of respondents from 106 English language teachers in the northern Syria crisis region, 43 females and 63 males, and five separate interviews. Over 60% of teachers believe that the adapted Self-Learning Program English textbooks are appropriate to the context and include a precise sequence of English units that fit children’s needs in northern Syrian crisis contexts.

The “Halep Arki” (Aleppo Channel), a Mamluk Era Water System for Aleppo

Due to its low rainfall and limited potential for water retention, northern Syria has always had access to and control of water as one of the main features of states in the region aiming to maintain their rule. This article introduces new information about the Mamluk period water adduction system of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, which brought water to the Quwayq River, the city’s most important source of water. A newly documented part of the system, known in the Gaziantep region of Türkiye as the “Halep Arki” (the Aleppo channel), is discussed along with Mamluk-era inscriptions associated with it. During archaeological survey conducted between 2016 and 2018 in the Oguzeli region of Türkiye’s Gaziantep province, an open-air channel connected to a qanat-like tunnel with vertical shafts was documented, in addition to two inscriptions carved into the bedrock where the open-air channel met the tunnel. These inscriptions, which have been damaged over the centuries, were documented using RTI (Reflectance Transformation Imaging) technology, which allowed portions of one of them to be read. The survey showed that this Mamluk era water system was also used and expanded in the Ottoman period beginning with the conquest of the region in the 16th century. Spoil heaps show that the system was cleaned, likely during the Ottoman era. The closing of gaps in the bedrock that came about due to earthquakes or other reasons with stone walling may also have taken place in the Ottoman period. Also, in the Ottoman period, water from other springs was added to the system and various regulations on the use of water introduced. In this article, based on topographic and hydrological study of the region, we offer suggestions of the sources of the spring water that were joined to this system.

The politics around safe zones: a comparative perspective on return to Northern Syria

Safe zones, initially established as practical tools for refugee protection, have evolved into diplomatic instruments. Through the case of Northern Syria in a historical-comparative perspective, this article explains the link between border politics and host state-induced return to the safe zones; and questions the viability of return within this politicised environment. Considering the earlier experiences of six cases in Sri Lanka, Iraq, Somalia, Bosnia, Rwanda, and Afghanistan, it shows how safe zones and refugee return have become venues for power struggles, not only between the origin and host states but also amongst regional and global powers; established with respect to their economic, political and strategic interests. The Northern Syrian case is distinguished by Turkey’s pressure for returns during the conflict, which makes conditions for return dependent on Turkish military presence. Without international support or a UNSC decision, Turkey’s self-proclaimed safe zone lacks international legitimacy, and refugee returns remain dependent on unilateral efforts by the Turkish government. Lack of security, rule of law, access to basic services, reconstruction, and overall prospects undermine the feasibility of safe, voluntary and sustainable returns. And as all actors involved place their military objectives above civilian governance, conditions for security in the safe zone remain precarious.

A new species and taxonomic notes on some Anatolian and Syrian species of cave crickets Dolichopoda (Orthoptera: Rhaphidophoridae): Following the trail of Martínez de la Escalera after 123 years

We examined cave crickets in southern Anatolian and northern Syrian in areas where Martínez de la Escalera collected at the end of the 19th century and compared our material with type material. We found a new species of the genus Dolichopoda Bolívar, 1880, D. rampinii Taylan & Şirin sp. n. from Anatolia (Hatay province). Additionally, some taxonomical notes and new figures of both sexes for D. pusilla Bolívar, 1899 and D. aranea Bolívar, 1899 are given according to syntype specimens. The new species, which is collected from Akbez cave (Turkey, Hatay province). Our data obtained from the type specimens indicates the validation of D. pusilla and D. aranea. Dolichopoda pusilla has to be removed from the Turkish list, as the collection locality is now located in Syria. http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:6D9B7C90-2835-4B2B-A241-1AE0F3234E03

Enhancing higher education teaching and learning in northern Syria: Academic development needs of teaching staff at free Aleppo and Sham universities

Free Aleppo University (FAU) and Sham University are higher education institutions established in 2015 in the non-Assad regime-controlled areas of Northern Syria. Despite ongoing conflict, the displacement of academic staff, damage to infrastructure and severe resource constraints, these universities continue to provide access to higher education to learners in the region, including thousands of internally displaced persons. ‘Modernisation and capacity building for academics in research, teaching and curriculum development’ was identified as a shared priority for both institutions at a round table in February 2020. This study, conducted by representatives from each university together with Syrian and UK-based academics collaborating on the Council for At Risk Academics (Cara) Syria Programme, responds to this priority by exploring the professional development needs and priorities of academic staff at Free Aleppo University (FAU) and Sham University. Semi-structured interviews with teaching staff at each institution (n=20) were analysed to elicit insight into the teaching experiences and development needs of teaching academics. Findings revealed academic development priorities that are consistent with areas of emphasis in the field of academic development internationally, but also highlighted the need for specialist professional development provision to support staff in responding to the unique challenges of the resource-poor and precarious Northern Syrian HE context.

Addressing Beijing Platform for Actions’ (BPfA) Area of Concerns Experienced by Women and Girls: Assessing the Indonesian, Kosovar, and German Repatriation Policies

The demise of ISIS in 2017 brought about dilemmatic situations for some governments in dealing with the issues of foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs), especially women and children currently living at Northern Syrian camps. Women and children experience poverty, lacking access to education, minimal access to healthcare, violence against women, violation of women’s human rights, media stereotyping of women and girls’ vulnerabilities, which have been identified as parts of the 12 critical areas of concern addressed within the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA), an international framework to protect the rights of women in armed conflicts. Employing Feminist Security Studies as the framework for analysis, this paper analyses how the areas of concern of BPfA experienced by women and girls in the camps have been responded by the government’s repatriation policies. This paper is a qualitative study by employing semi-structured interviews for the primary data collection complemented with relevant policy documents and secondary data from scholarly articles and media reporting. This paper discusses some areas of concern addressed in BPfA experienced by women in ex-ISIS camps and investigate countries responses to these concerns by looking at the Indonesian, Kosovar and German governments’ experience. The results of this study show that policies taken by most governments in dealing with repatriation issues have not considered the Beijing Platform for Actions’ strategic objectives resulting in further deprivation and human rights violation dealt by women and girls in the camps.

The ransom of high-ranking captives, tributary relationships and the practice of diplomacy in northern Syria 442-522/1050-1128

AbstractThis article examines how the introduction of western European crusaders and settlers to northern Syria from 490/1097 onwards impacted upon two important mechanisms of regional diplomacy; the ransom of prominent political prisoners and tributary relationships. Discussion begins with a comparison of the capture and ransom of high-ranking captives in northern Syria between 442-522/1050-1128, where it is argued that the establishment of the crusader states led to an increase in both the rate at which prisoners of elite status were ransomed and the financial sums involved in these interactions. This is followed by a reassessment of the various peace treaties, tributary arrangements and condominia or munāṣafa agreements concluded between the rulers of Antioch and Aleppo during the late fifth/eleventh and early sixth/twelfth centuries. Ultimately, this article seeks to place key features of northern Syrian diplomacy from the early crusading period within the context of regional norms in the decades preceding the crusaders’ arrival.

О политике Турции по укреплению своего присутствия на северных территориях Сирии

Turkey is one of the most active participants of the Syrian conflict that broke out in 2011. Among the priorities proclaimed by Ankara is the preservation of security and stability on the long Turkish-Syrian frontier that are under a long-term threat posed by the Syrian offshoots of the Kurdi-stan Workers' Party (PKK) recognized by Ankara as a terrorist organization. The article attempts to review and analyze the steps taken by Ankara to socially and economically restore the territories where the Turkish army, together with the armed Syrian opposition, held operations Euphrates Shield, Olive Branch, and Source of Peace (2016–2019) and which, in actual fact, remain occupied. The author concludes that in the context of the ongoing Syrian conflict and uncertainty around the political process to resolve the situation in the country, Turkey is carrying out systematic, compre-hensive work to expand its influence in the Northern Syrian territories which is not always approved by the local population. Close historical and geographical ties between the peoples of the two states, a unifying factor of Islamic faith and Muslim values have become one of the prerequisite for Anka-ra's “successful” policy in the north of Syria.

Erdogan’s Train to Authoritarianism

Recep Tayyip Erdogan — Turkey’s current president (elected 2014) and former prime minister (2003–2014) — infamously once declared that “democracy is like a train; you get off once you have reached your [real] destination.” In other words, one can use democratic means to achieve authoritarian goals. Analyzing Erdogan’s imaginary train journey, one must conclude that the Turkish leader never had the intention of reaching democracy. Indeed, now that he has achieved his actual authoritarian goal, he has jumped off the train. However, his journey did not always seem to be destined for such a terminus. Indeed, in his first decade in power, Erdogan won three parliamentary elections by ever-larger shares of the popular vote because he had helped to build Turkey into a burgeoning economic powerhouse and a moderate Islamic democracy. In the past decade, however, despite winning Turkey’s first popular election for president in August 2014, presiding over another great parliamentary victory in November 2015, and then winning re-election as president as well as retaining control of parliament in June 2018, Erdogan’s increasing authoritarianism has helped precipitate an accelerating crisis both domestically and externally for Turkey. His actions have also negatively affected the Kurds. Although his partial setback in the local elections held in March and June 2019 did seem to affect his hold on power, his seemingly successful creation of a Turkish safety zone in Northern (Syrian) Kurdistan in October 2019 revived his flailing domestic fortunes.

Comparative Study of Fatty acids profile in some Mediterranean Virgin Olive Oils using Gas Chromatography

Virgin olive oil represents the main fat source of the diet in the Mediterranean countries where the production of olive oil is concentrated. It has an important role in cardiovascular disease protection, because of its high bioactive components. The healthful effects are attributed to olive oil's high unsaturated fatty acids content which greatly varies in quantity according to the impact of geographic origin. This research aims to characterize local Syrian olive oils by determining their fatty acid composition, and compare the results with fatty acid composition in olive oil samples obtained from some exterior regions of the Mediterranean basin which are famous for olive cultivation. Twelve olive oil samples produced in four agricultural areas (coastal region, northern region, interior region, and southern region), available in local Syrian market were analyzed for its fatty acid composition by GC-MS, and the results were compared with fatty acid composition of six samples from several exterior regions (Lebanon, Spain, and Greece). All the values of the fatty acid compositions are in compliance with the regulations of the International Olive Oil Council (IOC) and Codex Alimentarius. Among the evaluated oils the highest percentages of total saturated fatty acids were found in the Spanish samples and the southern Syrian oil samples that showed above of (18%) of saturated fatty acids, The highest percentage of MUFA and MUFA/PUFA index were found in the Greek oil sample up to(82%) and (29.09) respectively. Also, the results showed that the highest percentage of Linoleic acid (omega 6) was found in the southern Syrian oil samples up to (14%). In addition, the northern Syrian samples, in the same way the Greek oil samples showed the highest total unsaturated fatty acids percentages up to(85%), the highest Oleic acid percentages up to (80%), which makes them the most suitable for consumption.

The Core of Resistance: Recognising Intersectional Struggle in the Kurdish Women’s Movement

Abstract The paper addresses the women’s movement in the Northern Syrian region known by Kurds as Rojava, a movement whose central role in building an autonomous political project has its roots in the Kurdish nationalist struggle, specifically that organised by the Kurdish Worker’s Party, also known as the PKK, in Turkey. This study brings to the fore reflections on the power relations that cross the struggle carried out by these women, who, for their part, are crossed by the intersection of gender, ethnicity and class, which feeds and composes the critical praxis of this organised struggle. The Kurdish women’s political path is approached through the contradictions and ambiguities they encounter when they face the challenge of becoming aware of their own place in a political project, which at first had a nationalist character and is now beginning to gain new contours. The presence of the female figure in a political context of armed conflict endows these women with the role of challenging the boundaries on which the foundational elements of international politics rely, namely, the boundary between public and private spheres and gender roles played socially and politically. The Kurdish women’s movement in Rojava disturbs the foundational boundaries of the modern nation-state alongside the hegemonic constructions of masculinity and femininity, and the militarised character of politics, which are constitutive of the modern imaginary of political community.

Editorial Foreword

Editorial Foreword Samer Abboud-Guest Editor More than seven years of extreme violence, human displacement, and economic suffocation in Syria have produced one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes in recent memory. By any measure the figures of human and physical loss are devastating: around 500 000 killed, more than half of the population displaced, approximately 1.2 million homes destroyed, and close to half of all medical facilities partially or severely destroyed. When the protest movement began in 2011 the political stakes were clear and distinguishable : Protestors sought radical reform of the political system beginning with regime change. Today, the aspirations of that period of a transition in power are even further away than they have ever been. As the conflict evolved, the casus belli of regime change was eventually displaced by a range of intersecting conflicts created and accelerated by the growth and spread of radical armed groups, various regional states’ violent interventions into the conflict, and the rise of the administrative project in Northern Syrian Kurdish areas, first as Rojava then rechristened as the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria (DFNS). The drivers of the conflict today are radically different than they were in 2011, 2013, or even 2015. Rather than moving us closer to peace and reconciliation, the evolution of the crisis has produced intersecting conflicts that make their unraveling virtually impossible. Turkey has sought to advance a regional consensus on Syria through active participation in the Astana and Sochi peace negotiations alongside Iran and Russia. At the same time, however, Turkey has broken with this regional consensus and initiated a large-scale assault of Afrin to destroy the Kurdish political and military presence there. How did the Syrian’s conflict evolve in this way? How can we begin to understand the many entanglement that make-up the Syrian conflict landscape today? Most serious scholars of Syria agree that this outcome was not pathdependent . As the trajectories of other Arab countries that experienced protests demonstrate, there was nothing pre-ordained about Syria’s trajectory. The evolution of the conflict can be attributed to the rise, empowerment, and often time fall of various actors whose political and military decisions vis-à-vis other actors shaped the conflict landscape. This special issue provides an attempt to engage with the question of how actors shaped the trajectory of the Syrian conflict, and, in turn, how the conflict itself shaped their agency, decision-making, and political and economic opportunities. Contrary to popular narratives about Syria, the 1 2 conflict is not simply one between monoliths we capture under the labels “regime” and “opposition”. The people, organizations, and movements that make up those labels are complex and diverse and deserve more sophisticated interrogation of their roles in the conflict than popular narratives are often willing to give them. Angela Joya’s article reminds us that the ‘old’ Syrian opposition still has a prominent role to play in the conflict. Joya asks how the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood contested the negative economic effects of economic liberalization in the decade preceding the uprisings and how this shaped the Brotherhood’s vision for a post-conflict Syria. In doing so, Joya encourages us to think beyond the political and military lenses through which we view the conflict and ask how socio-economic factors—in both their consequences and how they form visions of new possibilities—are important in understanding how Syrian opposition actors relate to the conflict. Ching-an Chang’s article explores the often neglected role that the Syrian business community has placed in opposition politics since 2011. Drawing on almost 200 interviews with Syrian businessmen in Turkey, Jordan, and Egypt who left after 2011, the paper argues that many businessmen were motivated to engage in opposition politics were driven by the increasing levels of violence and repression, the perceived political and physical security of engaging in politics, and their lack of previous political participation . In other words, many of these businessmen were motivated to engage in opposition politics by the evolution of the conflict, increasing repression, and their perceived ability to do so free of regime violence and repression. Contrary to many assumptions that the Syrian opposition in exile is made up of the pre-Ba...

Diagnoses, infections and injuries in Northern Syrian children during the civil war: A cross-sectional study.

BackgroundThe civil war in Syria including the deliberate targeting of healthcare services resulted in a complex humanitarian emergency, seriously affecting children's health. The objectives of this study are to document diagnoses and disease categories in Northern Syrian children after four years of conflict, and to document infectious diseases and injuries in this vulnerable population.MethodsIn a prospective cross-sectional observational sample study conducted in May 2015, healthcare workers registered demographics, comorbidities, and diagnoses (categorised according to the International Classification of Diseases version 10) in children visited at home and in internally displaced persons camps in four Syrian governorates.ResultsOf 1080 filled-out records, 1002 were included. Children originated from Aleppo (41%), Idleb (36%), Hamah (15%) and Lattakia (8%). Median age was 6 years (0–15; IQR 3–11), 61% were boys, 40% were younger than 5 years old. Children suffered from respiratory (29%), neurological (19%), digestive (17%), eye (5%) and skin (5%) diseases. Clinical malnutrition was seen in 4%, accidental injury in 3%, intentional injury in 1%, and mental disorders in 2%. Overall, 64% had features of infectious diseases (OR 0.635; CI 0.605–0.665). Most common comorbidities were chronic respiratory diseases (14, malnutrition (5%), acute flaccid paralysis (5%), and epilepsy (4%). Logistic regression analysis indicated that the risk for children to have communicable diseases was higher in Aleppo than in Idleb (OR 1.7; CI 1.2–2.3), Hamah (OR 4.9; CI 3.3–7.5), or Lattakia (OR 5.5; CI 3.3–9.3). Children in Aleppo and Lattakia were more at risk to be injured than in Idleb (OR 5.6; CI 2.1–14.3), or in Hamah (OR 5.9; CI 1.4–25.6), but more often from intentional violence in Lattakia. Mental problems were more prominent in Hamah.ConclusionsFour years far in the conflict, 64% of the studied children in four Northern Syrian governorates suffer from infections, mostly from respiratory, neurological and digestive origin, while 4% was injured or victim of intentional aggression. Substandard living conditions and the lack of paediatric healthcare put Syrian children at risk for serious infections, epidemics and morbidity, and ask for urgent international humanitarian relief efforts.

Children in the Syrian Civil War: the Familial, Educational, and Public Health Impact of Ongoing Violence.

The Syrian civil war since 2011 has led to one of the most complex humanitarian emergencies in history. The objective of this study was to document the impact of the conflict on the familial, educational, and public health state of Syrian children. A cross-sectional observational study was conducted in May 2015. Health care workers visited families with a prospectively designed data sheet in 4 Northern Syrian governorates. The 1001 children included in this study originated from Aleppo (41%), Idleb (36%), Hamah (15%), and Lattakia (8%). The children's median age was 6 years (range, 0-15 years; interquartile range, 3-11 years), and 61% were boys. Almost 20% of the children were internally displaced, and 5% had deceased or missing parents. Children lacked access to safe drinking water (15%), appropriate sanitation (23%), healthy nutrition (16%), and pediatric health care providers (64%). Vaccination was inadequate in 72%. More than half of school-aged children had no access to education. Children in Idleb and Lattakia were at greater risk of having unmet public health needs. Younger children were at greater risk of having an incomplete vaccination state. After 4 years of civil war in Syria, children have lost parents, live in substandard life quality circumstances, and are at risk for outbreaks because of worsening vaccination states and insufficient availability of health care providers. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;10:874-882).

The ‘Rojava Revolution’ in Syrian Kurdistan: A Model of Development for the Middle East?

As the civil war in Syria continues, in the territory of Rojava – in Kurdish, ‘the West’ – the northern Syrian Kurdish political movement is attempting to implement ‘libertarian municipalism’, based on the thoughts of United States (US) anarchist Murray Bookchin. Since the withdrawal of Syrian regime forces in 2012, the movement has consolidated significant territorial gains as a US ally in the anti-Islamic State (IS) struggle, while simultaneously securing Russian support. Viewed with suspicion by Turkey, Syria and Iraqi Kurdistan, the geopolitical conditions of Rojava’s emergence are its greatest impediment. This article analyses Rojava’s model of rule and socioeconomic development, and its theory and practice in the context of the civil war, and regional Middle Eastern and wider global geopolitics. It reflects on Rojava’s place and meaning for contemporary geopolitics in the Middle East, and considers the territory’s prospects, discussing its transformative potential for an otherwise troubled region.

A lost collection (1989–1994) of reptiles, birds and mammals of the Syrian Jazira (Syrian Arab Republic)

Basmafasal is a suburb of the town of Deir ez-Zor, located in that part of northern Syrian Mesopotamia known as the Jazira (al-Jazīrah), which lies in between the Euphrates and Khabur rivers. During the second half of the 1980s, a collection of mounted mammals, birds and reptiles was made by a local man, Abu Rabic, with the aim of representing the animal life of the region. The collection comprised many species of mammals, including several specimens of Taphozous nudiventris (naked-bellied tomb bat), Felis chaus, Lutra lutra, Hyaena hyaena, Sciurus anomalus (Persian squirrel), Hystrix indica (Indian crested porcupine), and Gazella subgutturosa marica, while birds were represented by about 200 taxa. With hundreds of exhibits, the Abu Rabic collection was representative of the biodiversity of the Jazira. It was destroyed in 1994.

The limits of hospitality: coping strategies among displaced Syrians in Lebanon

Based on qualitative fieldwork in the Sunni village of Bebnine, located between Tripoli and the northern Syrian border, this paper explores how displaced Syrians adjust to life in Lebanon under the threat and actuality of violence. The marginalised refugees do not only appear as passive victims of crisis but draw on a diverse repertoire of coping strategies to deal with displacement and dispossession. Self-settled Syrians have exploited social networks, savings, aid, education and work opportunities to create a new livelihood system for themselves. Nevertheless, everyday life in Lebanon is not conceptualised as a safe zone. Syrian refugees are increasingly being used as scapegoats for the poor economy and political challenges in the country. While practices of hospitality towards the Syrian refugees were widespread, ambivalent feelings and prejudice frequently surfaced. Refugees expressed concern that the Syrian civil war would escalate into further sectarian violence in Lebanon, pushing the country closer to war.

Problems with the Kurds as proxies against Islamic State: insights from the siege of Kobane

The siege of the northern Syrian town of Kobane was lifted in January 2015. The Kurdish defenders there had triumphed against Islamic State (IS). The conflict then moved on. It moved on, though, with the United States, the United Kingdom, and other Western powers having adopted, almost by default, the Kurds as proxy fighters in this conflict. The Kurds, however, are a divided and fractious nation spread across three states and historically famous for fighting among themselves. In employing the Kurds as proxies against IS, as this article shows, these Western powers must be aware of the unintended consequences that can result.

A fifth major genetic group among honeybees revealed in Syria

BackgroundApiculture has been practiced in North Africa and the Middle-East from antiquity. Several thousand years of selective breeding have left a mosaic of Apis mellifera subspecies in the Middle-East, many uniquely adapted and survived to local environmental conditions. In this study we explore the genetic diversity of A. mellifera from Syria (n = 1258), Lebanon (n = 169) and Iraq (n = 35) based on 14 short tandem repeat (STR) loci in the context of reference populations from throughout the Old World (n = 732).ResultsOur data suggest that the Syrian honeybee Apis mellifera syriaca occurs in both Syrian and Lebanese territories, with no significant genetic variability between respective populations from Syria and Lebanon. All studied populations clustered within a new fifth independent nuclear cluster, congruent with an mtDNA Z haplotype identified in a previous study. Syrian honeybee populations are not associated with Oriental lineage O, except for sporadic introgression into some populations close to the Turkish and Iraqi borders. Southern Syrian and Lebanese populations demonstrated high levels of genetic diversity compared to the northern populations.ConclusionThis study revealed the effects of foreign queen importations on Syrian bee populations, especially for the region of Tartus, where extensive introgression of A. m. anatolica and/or A. m. caucasica alleles were identified. The policy of creating genetic conservation centers for the Syrian subspecies should take into consideration the influence of the oriental lineage O from the northern Syrian border and the large population of genetically divergent indigenous honeybees located in southern Syria.