Streets in al-Hasakah are gradually turning into open dumps, amid an almost complete absence of municipal services run by the Autonomous Administration in northeastern Syria.
This scene not only threaten public health, it also reflects a broader service breakdown, accompanied by official silence and a halt to waste removal after the latest military clashes between the Syrian government and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Residents have responded with appeals for help and limited community initiatives, but these efforts have run into the reality of broken machinery and security fears.
Forgotten neighborhoods, foul odors and disease fears
During a tour of the city’s neighborhoods, especially in the south and east, piles of garbage are no longer small heaps along sidewalks. They have turned into mounds emitting foul odors and attracting insects and rodents.
This situation has raised concerns among residents about the spread of skin and gastrointestinal diseases, especially with shifting weather conditions.
“Umm Khalaf,” a resident of the Ghuwayran neighborhood in al-Hasakah (a city in northeastern Syria), told Enab Baladi that no municipal garbage truck has entered her area for more than 15 days.
“The garbage has reached the doorsteps, and children can no longer play outside,” she said, adding, “We live in a prison of filth, and no one tells us when this crisis will end.”
Some residents try to burn part of the waste to get rid of it, but thick smoke has caused breathing difficulties among older people, leaving them with two equally harsh choices.
Youth initiatives face institutional failure
Amid this institutional slowdown, young residents and activists launched campaigns on social media to raise donations and secure private vehicles to remove trash, on a voluntary basis.
(F.A.), one of the young activists who led a cleanup drive in the southern neighborhoods, told Enab Baladi that the initiative aimed to move accumulated waste from Ghuwayran in southern al-Hasakah.
“We found a quick response, with the owners of several dump trucks volunteering to transport the waste outside the city,” he said.
But these efforts ran into a complex technical and security reality. The team was unable to secure a bulldozer (loader), and when it went to the municipality’s garage, it found the equipment out of service.
“We had to look for a private loader to load the waste for a set fee, but its owners refuse to work for fear of their safety given the deteriorating security situation,” the activist added.
Logistical crisis or administrative neglect?
Service bodies affiliated with the Autonomous Administration sometimes cite fuel shortages or broken machinery, but the lack of any official explanation for the near total halt of waste removal in some neighborhoods has fueled residents’ frustration.
“Ahmad,” a civil activist (a pseudonym for security reasons), told Enab Baladi that the crisis goes beyond technical breakdowns.
“The problem is not just a broken loader or a lack of fuel, it is poor resource management,” he said, adding that taxes are collected regularly from shops and residents under the name of services, “but when we actually need help, the vehicles are worn out and the garages are nearly empty.”
Environmental and public health consequences
Doctors in al-Hasakah warn that continued waste accumulation in densely populated residential areas could cause environmental contamination, and provide suitable conditions for sandflies to multiply, the vector that spreads leishmaniasis, a disease that has recorded high infection rates in the area in previous years.
Garbage also blocks rainwater drainage channels, increasing the risk of neighborhoods flooding during heavy rainfall, which could turn streets into contaminated mud pools and deepen an already growing environmental disaster.
A warning about what comes next
Despite the importance of community initiatives, they remain temporary solutions that cannot replace the role of authorities responsible for managing a city the size of al-Hasakah. Residents say they are waiting for real action that goes beyond verbal promises, and includes repairing equipment and providing the protection needed for work crews, before the waste crisis turns into an uncontrolled public health disaster.
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