Al-Hasakah Governorate in the context of "Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria"

The Kurdish population of Syria is the country's largest ethnic minority, usually estimated at around 10% of the Syrian population and 5% of the Kurdish population.

The majority of Syrian Kurds are originally Turkish Kurds who have crossed the border during different events in the 20th century. There are three major centers for the Kurdish population in Syrian, the northern part of the Jazira, the central Euphrates Region around Kobanî and in the west the area around Afrin. All of these are on the Syria-Turkey border, and there are also substantial Kurdish communities in Aleppo and Damascus further south.

Syrian Kurdistan or Rojava (Kurdish: Rojavayê Kurdistanê, lit. 'Kurdistan where the sun sets') is a region in northern Syria where Kurds form the majority. It geographically surrounds three noncontiguous enclaves along the Turkish and Iraqi borders: Afrin in the northwest, Kobani in the north, and Jazira in the northeast. The term started to become more widely known as Kurdish nationalist groups and parties started to use it in 2013 to describe the political entity later known as "Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria". However, this usage was officially dropped in 2016 in favor of a more inclusive name to the heterogenous area under PYD control.

Kurdish nationalists consider Syrian Kurdistan as one of the four Lesser Kurdistans that comprise Greater Kurdistan, alongside Iranian Kurdistan, Turkish Kurdistan, and Iraqi Kurdistan. A significant part of the Kurdish community of Afrin was displaced during the Turkish-backed Operation Olive Branch in 2018.

Urkesh, also transliterated Urkish (Akkadian: 𒌨𒆧𒆠 UR.KIŠ, 𒌨𒋙𒀭𒄲𒆠 UR.KEŠ₃; modern Tell Mozan; Arabic: تل موزان), is a tell, or settlement mound, located in the foothills of the Taurus Mountains in Al-Hasakah Governorate, northeastern Syria. It was founded during the fourth millennium BC, possibly by the Hurrians, on a site which appears to have been inhabited previously for a few centuries. The city god of Urkesh was Kumarbi, father of Teshup.

Tell Brak (Nagar, Nawar) was an ancient city in Syria; it is one the earliest known cities in the world. Its remains constitute a tell located in the Upper Khabur region, near the modern village of Tell Brak, 50 kilometers north-east of Al-Hasaka city, Al-Hasakah Governorate. The city's original name is unknown. During the second half of the third millennium BC, the city was known as Nagar and later on, Nawar.

Starting as a small settlement in the seventh millennium BC, Tell Brak's urbanization began in the late 5th millennium BCE and evolved during the fourth millennium BC into one of the biggest cities in Upper Mesopotamia, and interacted with the cultures of southern Mesopotamia. The city shrank in size at the beginning of the third millennium BC with the end of Uruk period, before expanding again around 2600 BC, when it became known as Nagar, and was the capital of a regional kingdom that controlled the Khabur river valley. Nagar was destroyed around 2300 BC, and came under the rule of the Akkadian Empire, followed by a period of independence as a Hurrian city-state, before contracting at the beginning of the second millennium BC. Nagar prospered again by the 19th century BC, and came under the rule of different regional powers. In c. 1500 BC, Tell Brak was a center of Mitanni before being destroyed by Assyria around 1300 BC. The city never regained its former importance, remaining as a small settlement, and abandoned at some points of its history, until disappearing from records during the early Abbasid era.

Tell Barri (ancient Kahat) is a tell, or archaeological settlement mound, in north-eastern Syria in the Al-Hasakah Governorate. It is situated along the Wadi Jaghjagh, a tributary of the Khabur River. It lies 22 kilometers away from the site Tell Arbid and 8 kilometers north of the ancient city of Nagar (Tell Brak).

The site, situated in a semi-arid region, was inhabited for several millennia, with occupation spanning from the 4th millennium BC to modern times. Its ancient name was Kahat as proven by a threshold found on the south-western slope of the mound. The site contains remains of monumental structures, including the palace of Neo-Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninurta II (10th century BC), as well as domestic and industrial areas. In addition, various everyday objects, pottery, and inscriptions have been uncovered.

37°3′N 43°9′E / 37.050°N 43.150°E / 37.050; 43.150

Duhok Governorate (Kurdish: پارێزگای دھۆک, Parêzgeha Dihok, Syriac: ܗܘܦܪܟܝܐ ܕܢܘܗܕܪܐ, romanized: Hoparkiya d’Nohadra, Arabic: محافظة دهوك, romanized: Muḥāfaẓat Dohūk) is a governorate in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Its capital is the city of Duhok. It includes Zakho, near the Ibrahim Khalil border crossing with Şırnak Province, Turkey. It borders the Al-Hasakah Governorate of Syria. It was established on 27 May 1969, previously part of Nineveh Governorate.

Jīlū was a district located in the Hakkari region of upper Mesopotamia in modern-day Turkey.Before 1915, Jīlū was home to mostly Assyrians and as well as a minority of Kurds. There were 20 Assyrian villages in this district. The area was traditionally divided into Greater and Lesser Jīlū, and Ishtāzin – each with its own Malik, and consisting of a number of Assyrian villages. In the summer of 1915, during the Assyrian genocide, Jīlū was surrounded and attacked by Turkish troops and neighbouring Kurdish tribes under the leadership of Agha Sūtū of Oramar. It is now located around Yeşiltaş, Yüksekova.

After a brief struggle to maintain their positions, the Assyrian citizens of Jīlū were forced to flee to Salmas in Iran along with other refugees from the Hakkari highlands. Today their descendants live all over the world including Iraq, Syria, Iran, Lebanon, Russia, the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe. In Syria's al-Hasakah Governorate there are two villages, Tel-Gorān and Abū-Tīnā, established in 1935 by Jīlū refugees from Iraq on the banks of the Khabur River.

Jazira Region, formerly the Jazira Canton (Kurdish: Herêma Cizîrê; Arabic: إقليم الجزيرة; Syriac: ܦܢܝܬܐ ܕܓܙܪܬܐ, romanized: Ponyotho d'Gozarto), is the largest of the three original regions of the de facto Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES). As part of the ongoing Rojava conflict, its democratic autonomy was officially declared on 21 January 2014. The region is in the Al-Hasakah Governorate (formerly known as the Al-Jazira Province) of Syria.

According to the DAANES constitution, the city of Qamishli is the administrative center of Jazira Region. However, as parts of Qamishli previously were under the control of Syrian government forces, meetings of the autonomous region's administration take place in the nearby city of Amuda.