Efter nederlaget: Nu flyr IS från ännu en syrisk stad

The Syrian Democratic Forces (Arabic: قوات سوريا الديمقراطية‎, translit. Quwwāt Sūriyā al-Dīmuqrāṭīya‎, Kurdish: Hêzên Sûriya Demokratîk‎, Syriac: Haylawotho d'Suriya Demoqratoyto‎), commonly abbreviated as SDF or QSD, are an alliance of Kurdish, Arab, Assyrian, Armenian, Turkmen and Circassian militias in the Syrian Civil War, fighting against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and against those parts of the rebellion who cooperate with Al-Nusra Front and other islamist groups like Ahrar al-Sham. The SDF claims to be fighting to create a secular, democratic and federal Syria. Their goals and military operations are part of the larger Rojava Revolution taking place in northern Syria in which residents are carrying out de facto self-rule based on the principles of direct democracy and democratic confederalism. On 10 December 2015, after a two-day conference, the SDF established its political wing, called the Syrian Democratic Council. The draft for the updated 2016 constitution of the Federation of Northern Syria – Rojava names the SDF as its official defence force. The SDF has focused primarily on ISIL, successfully driving them from important strategic areas, such as Shaddadi, Al-Hawl, Tishrin Dam and Manbij. Around 60% of SDF members are Kurds. The Economist has described the SDF as "essentially a subsidiary of the Kurdish YPG".

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (also known as SOHR; Arabic: المرصد السوري لحقوق الإنسان‎‎), founded in May 2006, is an information office documenting human rights abuses in Syria, since 2011 focusing on the Syrian Civil War. The SOHR is frequently quoted by major news media since the beginning of the uprising, such as Voice of America, Reuters, BBC, CNN and National Public Radio, about daily numbers of ISIL/ISIS fighters and civilians killed in airstrikes in Syria. The United Kingdom-based SOHR is run from his home in Coventry by Rami Abdulrahman, (sometimes referred to as Rami Abdul Rahman) a Syrian Sunni Muslim who also owns a clothes shop. After being imprisoned three times in Syria, Abdulrahman fled to the United Kingdom fearing a fourth jail term and has not returned since. The New York Times in April 2013 described him being on the phone all day every day with contacts in Syria, and checking all information himself. Born Osama Suleiman, he adopted a pseudonym during his years of activism in Syria, and has used it publicly ever since. In a December 2011 interview with Reuters, Abdulrahman said the observatory has a network of 200 people and that six of his sources had been killed. Abdulrahman reports on events in the Syrian uprising, including the deaths of civilians, rebels and army defectors (whom he calls "martyrs") and government soldiers.