Sheikh Maqsud (Şêxmeqsûd) is a unique enclave within Aleppo, one of the oldest and most populous cities in Syria. Aleppo is under Syrian Government control, but the majority-Kurdish Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafiya neighborhoods retain autonomy and ties to the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. Within the tumults of the civil war Sheikh Maqsud gained independence from Syrian Government forces, and since then its population has been organizing according to the same democratic principles as the Autonomous Administrations or North and East Syria (AANES).
Mekiye Hiso, a member of the Syrian Women's Assembly, said that they have once again realised the importance of women's self-defence with the revolution in North and East Syria, adding that they will focus more on organisation in Syrian cities.
A naturopathy center was founded five years ago for the population of the self-governing districts in Aleppo. The employees research their grandmothers' healing methods and the patients are satisfied.
The aim of the Women’s Economic Committee in Aleppo’s Sheikh Maqsud neighbourhood is to support women. 13 women work in one of their projects making hand crafted and embroidered products. The project aims to involve a large number of people, especially unemployed women. Workers were trained in hand embroidery and the use of various labels.
The neighborhoods of Sheikh-Maqsoud and Ashrafieh in the Syrian city of Aleppo have been under a suffocating siege for years by the Syrian regime forces, and this siege continues, contrary to all human rights laws, even after the area was exposed to a devastating earthquake, a number of buildings fell, and dozens of civilians were killed and dozens injured, and the psychological suffering of children continues and the elderly.
An attack has been carried out on members of the Autonomous Administration economic committee in Şêxmeqsûd in the north of Aleppo. Hemze Kobanê was killed and three other people were injured.
The agricultural project that started last year in al-Sheikh Maksoud neighborhood achieved positive results in achieving an economic return for the families that adopted it, in a way that helped them expand it to include livestock breeding and launch future plans.
Despite the attacks and threats, the people of Rojava and Northern Syria continue to build their communalist social model.
