Hasakah (Hesîçe): Heart of the Jazira in Rojava
- Hojîn Rostam
- 1 hour ago
- 4 min read
Introduction
Hasakah (Kurdish: Hesîçe; Arabic: al-Hasakah) is the largest city of the Jazira, the broad north-eastern corner of Syria that Kurds call Cizîrê — the easternmost and largest part of the region known as Rojava. Set on the Khabur River, it is the capital of Syria’s Hasakah Governorate, the heartland of the Syrian Kurds.
Hasakah is a genuinely mixed city — home to Kurds, Arabs, and Assyrian Christians — in a province that has been at the centre of Kurdish self-rule in Syria and on the front line of the war against the Islamic State. This profile looks at its setting, its peoples, and its turbulent recent history.
Key Takeaways
• Hasakah (Kurdish: Hesîçe) is the largest city of the Jazira region in north-east Syria and capital of Hasakah Governorate.
• The governorate is the heartland of Syria’s Kurds, though the city itself is ethnically mixed — Kurdish, Arab, and Assyrian.
• It is a key city of the Kurdish-led autonomous administration of Rojava (the Jazira region).
• Hasakah was a major front in the war against the Islamic State, including a large prison-break battle in 2022.
• It lies on the Khabur River amid the Jazira plains — Syria’s breadbasket and one of the oldest urbanised landscapes on earth.
Quick Facts
Name (Kurdish): Hesîçe
Arabic Name: al-Hasakah
Country / Region: Syria (Rojava / Western Kurdistan)
Governorate: Hasakah (the Jazira / Cizîrê)
River: Khabur
Communities: Kurdish, Arab, Assyrian / Syriac
Administration: Kurdish-led autonomous administration (Jazira)
Known For: Jazira agriculture and oil; the war against ISIS
Contents
Where Is Hasakah?
Hasakah lies in the far north-east of Syria, close to the borders with Turkey and Iraq, on the Khabur River — a tributary of the Euphrates that gives life to the surrounding plains. The Jazira around it is the agricultural backbone of Syria, a land of wheat and cotton fields, and it holds much of the country’s oil in the fields near Rmeilan.
This is also one of the oldest settled landscapes on earth: the tells of the Khabur triangle, such as Tell Halaf and Tell Brak, mark some of the earliest cities of ancient Mesopotamia, long before Hasakah itself grew into a modern town in the twentieth century.
The Heart of the Jazira
Hasakah Governorate is the heartland of the Kurds in Syria, part of the long “Kurdish belt” that runs along the Turkish border. When the Syrian state lost control of much of the north after 2012, the Jazira became the largest and most developed of the regions of Rojava, governed by the Kurdish-led autonomous administration. Hasakah city, alongside Qamishli, became one of its principal urban centres.
A City of Many Peoples
Hasakah is one of the most mixed cities in Kurdish Syria. Kurds form the core of the surrounding region, but the city itself is shared with a large Arab population and with Assyrian and Syriac Christians, whose villages line the Khabur valley. Many of those Christian communities descend from survivors of earlier genocides who found refuge here, and they suffered again when ISIS attacked the Khabur villages in 2015. The city’s diversity links it closely to the other great Jazira city of Qamishli.
Rojava and the War Against ISIS
Hasakah sat on the front line of the war against the Islamic State. Kurdish-led forces drove ISIS back from the city and its province, which became a base for the wider campaign that eventually destroyed the group’s “caliphate.” The danger did not end there: in January 2022, ISIS launched a major assault on the Ghwayran prison in Hasakah, holding thousands of its fighters, triggering days of heavy fighting before the attack was put down.
Throughout these years Hasakah also remained divided in a quieter way, with the Syrian government holding small security enclaves inside a city otherwise run by the Kurdish-led administration — a reflection of the tangled politics of north-east Syria.
Hasakah Today
Today Hasakah is a crowded, resilient city, its population swollen by people displaced from across the region, and a key centre of the Kurdish-led administration of north-east Syria. Its future, like that of all Rojava, remains uncertain amid the wider upheavals of Syria — but as the largest city of the Jazira, Hasakah remains central to the story of the Syrian Kurds.
Timeline
ancient era — The Khabur triangle (Tell Halaf, Tell Brak) hosts some of the earliest cities of Mesopotamia.
1930s — Modern Hasakah grows as Assyrian and other refugees settle along the Khabur.
2012 — The Syrian state withdraws from much of the north; Kurdish self-rule takes hold in the Jazira.
2015 — ISIS attacks the Assyrian villages of the Khabur valley; Kurdish-led forces battle ISIS around Hasakah.
2022 — ISIS launches a major assault on Hasakah’s Ghwayran prison; days of fighting follow.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Hasakah a Kurdish city?
Hasakah is the largest city of the Jazira, the heartland of Syria’s Kurds, and a centre of Kurdish-led self-rule — though the city itself is ethnically mixed, with Kurds, Arabs, and Assyrian Christians.
What is Hasakah’s Kurdish name?
In Kurdish the city is called Hesîçe; in Arabic it is al-Hasakah.
What is the Jazira?
The Jazira (Kurdish: Cizîrê) is the north-eastern region of Syria around Hasakah and Qamishli — the largest part of Rojava and the heartland of the Syrian Kurds.
What happened at Hasakah prison in 2022?
In January 2022 ISIS launched a major attack on the Ghwayran (al-Sina’a) prison in Hasakah, which held thousands of its fighters, leading to days of intense fighting with Kurdish-led forces.
Related People, Places, and Topics
The Jazira (Cizîrê) · Rojava · Qamishli · Kobani · the Khabur River · the Assyrians · the war against ISIS.
References and Further Reading
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