Before the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in 2011 most lived in the cities of Damascus and Aleppo, and in three, non-contiguous areas around Kobane, Afrin, and the north-eastern city of Qamishli. . ..…

Syrian government troops were moving into or beefing up their in the regions on either side of that enclave, including Manbij west of it, and the cities of Qamishli and Hassakeh in the far northeastern corner of Syria... ..…