Ayn Issa (also Ain Issa; , "Eye of

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

"; ) is a town in the Tell Abyad District of

Raqqa Governorate Raqqa Governorate (, Kurdish: ''Parêzgeha Reqa'') is one of the fourteen governorates of Syria. It is situated in the north of the country and covers an area of 19,618 km2. The capital is Raqqa. The Islamic State of Iraq and Levant claim ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

and a capital for the

Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria The Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES), also known as Rojava, is a ''de facto'' Autonomous administrative division, autonomous region in northeastern Syria. It consists of self-governing Regions of North and E ...

. It is located halfway between the

Syria–Turkey border The border between the Syrian Arab Republic and the Republic of Turkey (; ) is long, and runs from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the tripoint with Iraq in the east. It runs across Upper Mesopotamia for some , crossing the Euphrates and ...

town of Tell Abyad and the regional capital

Raqqa Raqqa (, also , Kurdish language, Kurdish: ''Reqa'') is a city in Syria on the North bank of the Euphrates River, about east of Aleppo. It is located east of the Tabqa Dam, Syria's largest dam. The Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine city and b ...

. Through the city runs the M4 highway connecting

Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

with the Hasakah Governorate.

Syrian civil war

In June 2015, Ayn Issa was taken over from ISIL by the Kurdish

People's Protection Units The People's Defense Units (YPG), also called People's Protection Units, is a libertarian socialist US-backed Kurds in Syria, Kurdish militant group in Syria and the primary component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The YPG mostl ...

(YPG) militia,

Women's Protection Units The Women's Protection Units (YPJ) or Women's Defense Units is an all-female militia involved in the Syrian civil war. The YPJ is part of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the armed forces of the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and Ea ...

(YPJ), and the Raqqa Revolutionaries Brigade in the course of their Tell Abyad offensive. While it was shortly recaptured by ISIL militants, it was reclaimed by the YPG in early July. On 14 October 2019, the Syrian Army entered and established joint control over Ayn Issa after an agreement with the SDF to prevent the Turkish offensive in the area. It became the seat of the

in September 2018. On November 8 2024 a family of 11 civilians including women and children were killed in a Turkish drone attack on Ayn Issa.

Ayn Issa refugee camp

Since April 2016, the Ayn Issa refugee camp on the outskirts of the town has housed approximately 9,000 refugees by July 2018, mainly Syrian Internally Displaced Persons from the governorates of

Deir ez-Zor Deir ez-Zor () is the largest city in eastern Syria and the seventh largest in the country. Located on the banks of the Euphrates to the northeast of the capital Damascus, Deir ez-Zor is the capital of the Deir ez-Zor Governorate. In the 2018 ...

and

2020–21 Ayn Issa clashes

On 23 November 2020, clashes broke out between the SNA and SDF near Ayn Issa. On December 1,

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

's al-Akhbar newspaper reported that the SDF managed to ambush Turkish-backed forces, killing 30 fighters.

References

Cities in Syria Populated places in Tell Abyad District {{RaqqaSY-geo-stub