Alexander McKeever
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akmckeever.bsky.social
Alexander McKeever
@akmckeever.bsky.social
Amman-based New Yorker obsessed with Cape Breton (and Syria)

Author of This Week in Northern Syria newsletter, regular open sourced updates on northern Aleppo and SDF-controlled eastern Syria:
https://akmckeever.substack.com
Incredible
November 12, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Apparently no one in the last 9 years has changed the al-Bab highway sign that still reads "Wilayat al-Barakah," the Islamic State name for al-Hasakah governorate

t.me/ehtemlat2/60...
November 9, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Sharaa and Shaibani's shots look like shit tbh
November 9, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Cizre 1938 - photo taken by French Army aircraft from about the Syria border looking NNE
November 9, 2025 at 3:42 PM
1941 US Army map of southern al-Raqqah/Resafa badiyah
November 9, 2025 at 12:39 PM
One of my aunts - a gym teacher on Long Island - has taken to using her Instagram account to promote hockey-themed gay (sorry, ‘double bi-awakening’) romance novels. My brother asked her if she knew we can all see it and she said she doesn’t care. Not sure what my uncle thinks
November 6, 2025 at 1:18 PM
mast as seen from the southwest
t.me/radiorojava/...
November 4, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Erdogan portrait along with Turkish and Suleiman Shah flags (flags might be temporary) taken down at al-Sheikh Hadid roundabout, Ottoman seal on the billboard in the background gone as well
November 4, 2025 at 1:41 PM
SDF member climbed the TV mast on MT. Qarachok for a view of the Derik countryside and the network of SDF headquarters on and around the mountain (strategic depth vs. IS, less so vs. Turkey)

37.064101, 42.159784
October 31, 2025 at 6:12 AM
Aldar Xelil with horse painting
October 29, 2025 at 3:52 PM
** Now seems clear

Division 70, Big. Gen. Ömer Çiftçi, Damascus

www.facebook.com/dooma.alhorr...
October 28, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Division 82: Brig. Gen. Khalid al-Halabi (Ansar al-Tawhid), Hama

Division 84: Brig. Gen. Abdulaziz Dawud Hudaberdi (Turkistan Islamic Party), Latakia

Division 86: Brig. Gen. Ahmad al-Hayyes (SNA - Furqat Ahrar al-Sharqiyah), Deir ez-Zour

Division 98: Brig. Gen. ‘Abd al-Basit al-Jamal (HTS), Idlib
October 28, 2025 at 11:27 AM
Division 72: Brig. Gen. ‘Aqil Muhammad al-‘Amir (HTS), Aleppo

Division 74: Brig. Gen. Jamil al-Salih (Jaysh al-‘Izzah), Hama

Division 76: Brig. Gen. Saif Polat (SNA - Furqat al-Hamzah), Aleppo

Division 80: Brig. Gen. Ahmad Rizq (SNA - Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zenki), Aleppo
October 28, 2025 at 11:27 AM
Division 62: Muhammad Jasim (SNA - Furqat al-Sultan Suleiman Shah), Hama & Aleppo

Division 64: Muhammad al-Gharib (Faylaq al-Sham), Idlib

Division 66: Brig. Gen. Ahmad al-Muhammad (HTS), Deir ez-Zour

Division 70: Damascus**
October 28, 2025 at 11:27 AM
Division 52: Brig. Gen. Haitham al-‘Ali (HTS), Homs

Division 54: Col. Hussein ‘Ubaid (Ahrar al-Sham), Hama

Division 56: Brig. Gen. Munir al-Sheikh (HTS), Latakia

Division 60: Brig. Gen ‘Awad Muhammad (HTS), Aleppo
October 28, 2025 at 11:27 AM
Division 40: Col. Bunyan Ahmad Al-Hariri (Ahrar al-Sham), Dar‘a

Division 42: Brig. Gen. Ra’id al-‘Abdullah (SNA - Suqour al-Sham), Homs

Division 44: Brig. Gen. Najib Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman, Rural Damascus

Division 50: Brig. Gen. Mahmoud Hamidi, Latakia
October 28, 2025 at 11:27 AM
October 26, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Map of French-planned Qamishli soon after its founding in the 1920s and a French map of the upper Jazirah from around the same time

ac-syria.com/c/?p=259
October 26, 2025 at 7:13 AM
IS claimed 247 attacks against the SDF last year...

www.wsj.com/world/middle...
October 25, 2025 at 8:33 AM
I think the first time I've used a photo of my own in the newsletter? the seat of Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II (Cathedral of St. George, Bab Touma)
October 23, 2025 at 11:59 AM
From what I can tell this is the territorial situation in al-Sheikh Maqsoud and 6 of the 7 main entrance checkpoints (not sure where exactly Layramoun CP is but presumably on the N-S road east of the circle
October 22, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Today's addition: a chart of the c. Nov 2024 SNA roster with faction commander faces attached, many of whom now play roles in the new Syrian military
October 21, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Some of the stuff up on there now
October 20, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Arabic/Kurdish/Turkish vocab commonly seen in placenames (and translations btw communities of such) in northern Syria.
October 19, 2025 at 8:08 PM
I forgot about this photo... al-Banawi and Jund al-Haramain defected from the SDF in December 2024, effectively handing Manbij over to the SNA
October 10, 2025 at 11:49 AM