Damascus, Rojava Race over Jazeera's Wheat Crops

Wheat harvest in 2021 in the town of Al-Darbasiyah, north of Hasaka Province (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Wheat harvest in 2021 in the town of Al-Darbasiyah, north of Hasaka Province (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Damascus, Rojava Race over Jazeera's Wheat Crops

Wheat harvest in 2021 in the town of Al-Darbasiyah, north of Hasaka Province (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Wheat harvest in 2021 in the town of Al-Darbasiyah, north of Hasaka Province (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Damascus and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (Rojava) have entered the race to buy wheat grown in Syria’s part of the Jazeera. The two sides are looking to secure their share of grain harvests after hundreds of hectares of Syrian wheat fields failed to endure sharp decreases in seasonal rainfall.

Syria, which used to produce four million tons of wheat before 2010, is now facing a real food security catastrophe.

Experts and Administration leaders estimate that the current season’s production may reach a quarter of the usual amount, with the possibility that production at its best will reach one million tons. This means that crop production will drop by 70% in large parts of the region.

Administration authorities, which control most of the agricultural lands in the northeastern areas of Syria’s Hasaka province, are working to determine the purchase price of wheat within the rain-fed areas. They are racing time to secure their wheat needs to produce subsidized bread.

“We will provide the farmers with all facilities to deliver their crops, and we will support private projects for those wishing to establish cotton gins and fodder warehouses,” said Salman Barudo, the co-chair of the Economy and Agriculture Board of the Administration.

Meanwhile, President Bashar al-Assad ordered the Annual Grain Conference to raise the purchase price of wheat from farmers to SYP 1700 with a reward of SYP 300 per kg delivered from safe areas so that the price of one kilogram becomes SYP 2000, in addition, to the reward of SYP 400 per kg delivered from the unsafe areas.

Prime Minister Hussein Arnous stressed that receiving every grain of wheat is a priority in the government’s work because the wheat crop is linked to food security and the citizen’s livelihood.

It should be noted that Syria is divided between three conflicting local areas of influence, in which the regime’s regions need two million tons of wheat annually.



US Pressures Lebanon to Issue Cabinet Decision to Disarm Hezbollah Before Talks Continue

US Ambassador to Türkiye and US special envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack meets with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, in Beirut, Lebanon July 21, 2025. (Reuters)
US Ambassador to Türkiye and US special envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack meets with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, in Beirut, Lebanon July 21, 2025. (Reuters)
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US Pressures Lebanon to Issue Cabinet Decision to Disarm Hezbollah Before Talks Continue

US Ambassador to Türkiye and US special envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack meets with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, in Beirut, Lebanon July 21, 2025. (Reuters)
US Ambassador to Türkiye and US special envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack meets with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, in Beirut, Lebanon July 21, 2025. (Reuters)

Washington is ramping up pressure on Beirut to swiftly issue a formal cabinet decision committing to disarm Hezbollah before talks can resume on a halt to Israel's military operations in Lebanon, five sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Without a public commitment from Lebanese ministers, the US will no longer dispatch US envoy Thomas Barrack to Beirut for negotiations with Lebanese officials, or pressure Israel either to stop airstrikes or pull its troops from south Lebanon, according to the sources, who include two Lebanese officials, two diplomats and a Lebanese source familiar with the matter.

The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Washington and Beirut have been in talks for nearly six weeks on a US roadmap to fully disarm the Lebanese Hezbollah party in exchange for Israel to end its strikes and withdraw its troops from five points in southern Lebanon.

The original proposal included a condition that Lebanon's government pass a cabinet decision pledging to disarm Hezbollah. Hezbollah has publicly refused to hand over its arsenal in full, but the group has privately weighed scaling it back.

The group, designated a terrorist organization by the US and much of the West, has also told Lebanese officials that Israel must take the first step by withdrawing its troops and stopping drone strikes on Hezbollah fighters and arms depots.

Hezbollah's main ally, Lebanese speaker of parliament Nabih Berri, asked the US to ensure that Israel halt its strikes as a first step, in order to fully implement the ceasefire agreed last year that ended months of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, according to four of the sources.

Israel rejected Berri's proposal late last week, the four sources said. There was no immediate response from the Israeli prime minister's office to questions from Reuters on the issue.

The US then began insisting that a cabinet vote take place imminently, all the sources said.

"The US is saying there's no more Barrack, no more papers back and forth - the council of ministers should take a decision and then we can keep discussing. They cannot wait any longer," the Lebanese source said.

The source and the Lebanese officials said Prime Minister Nawaf Salam would seek to hold a session in the coming days. Barrack met Salam in Beirut last week and said Washington cannot "compel" Israel to do anything.

In a post on X after his visit, Barrack said that "as long as Hezbollah retains arms, words will not suffice. The government and Hezbollah need to fully commit and act now in order to not consign the Lebanese people to the stumbling status quo."

All the sources said that Lebanon's rulers fear that a failure to issue a clear commitment to disarm Hezbollah could trigger escalated Israeli strikes, including on Beirut.