Syria's Wheat War

Published June 14th, 2020 - 07:06 GMT

In a country where millions depend on bread as a staple food to survive, both want the wheat grown in the country's northeastern breadbasket region.

After successive droughts and eight years of civil war, both the local Kurdish authorities and the Damascus regime are desperate to buy up produce to feed their people and maintain the peace.

Kurdish female volunteer guards a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province.

The regime is offering a better price, but the Kurds have said no wheat can leave the region under their control.

Farmers are especially eager to sell their crop to make up for poor harvests in previous years, but also to save them from fires -- some claimed by the Islamic State group.

Long marginalized, Syria's Kurds have largely stayed out of the eight-year civil war.

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A Kurdish female volunteer, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, guards a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP

A Kurdish female volunteer, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, guards a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP

A Kurdish female volunteer, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, guards a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP

A harvester drives past a Kurdish female volunteer, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, patrolling a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP

A family rider a motorcycle past a Kurdish female volunteer, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, as she patrols a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP

Kurdish female volunteers, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, walk next to a herd of sheep as they patrol a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP

A Kurdish female volunteer, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, guards a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP

Smoke billows from an oil field as Kurdish female volunteers, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, guard a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP

A Kurdish female volunteer, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, guards a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP

A Kurdish female volunteer, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, guards a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP
A Kurdish female volunteer, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, guards a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP
A Kurdish female volunteer, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, guards a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP
A harvester drives past a Kurdish female volunteer, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, patrolling a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP
A family rider a motorcycle past a Kurdish female volunteer, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, as she patrols a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP
Kurdish female volunteers, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, walk next to a herd of sheep as they patrol a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP
A Kurdish female volunteer, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, guards a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP
Smoke billows from an oil field as Kurdish female volunteers, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, guard a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP
A Kurdish female volunteer, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, guards a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP
A Kurdish female volunteer, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, guards a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP
A Kurdish female volunteer, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, guards a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP
A Kurdish female volunteer, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, guards a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP
A Kurdish female volunteer, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, guards a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP
A Kurdish female volunteer, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, guards a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP
A Kurdish female volunteer, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, guards a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP
A harvester drives past a Kurdish female volunteer, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, patrolling a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP
A harvester drives past a Kurdish female volunteer, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, patrolling a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP
A family rider a motorcycle past a Kurdish female volunteer, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, as she patrols a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP
A family rider a motorcycle past a Kurdish female volunteer, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, as she patrols a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP
Kurdish female volunteers, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, walk next to a herd of sheep as they patrol a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP
Kurdish female volunteers, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, walk next to a herd of sheep as they patrol a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP
A Kurdish female volunteer, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, guards a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP
A Kurdish female volunteer, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, guards a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP
Smoke billows from an oil field as Kurdish female volunteers, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, guard a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP
Smoke billows from an oil field as Kurdish female volunteers, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, guard a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP
A Kurdish female volunteer, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, guards a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP
A Kurdish female volunteer, from the newly formed Community Protection Forces, guards a wheat field, against threats by jihadists to burn the crops, during harvest season on June 13, 2020, in the countryside east of Qamishli in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province. Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP

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