Shafaq News- Damascus

Inside a classroom converted into a shelter for displaced families, a young Kurdish couple held a modest wedding in the northeastern Syrian city of Qamishli, turning a space of exile into a moment of quiet celebration after being forced to flee their homes once again by renewed fighting.

Suleiman and Nirvan, both originally from the Afrin region, had already experienced displacement years earlier. Their journey did not end there. Recent military developments forced them to leave the Tabqa area and head toward Qamishli, following the advance of government forces into eastern Aleppo and the provinces of Raqqa and Deir Ez-Zor, alongside the withdrawal of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) from those areas.

The couple’s wedding took place inside one of the school’s classrooms, now housing dozens of displaced families. Despite limited resources and harsh living conditions, they chose to move forward with their marriage, marking a personal milestone amid uncertainty.

The bride wore a simple white dress. Attendance was limited to a small group of displaced residents staying in the school. There was no music or traditional celebration, representing the reality of displacement and the absence of the usual elements associated with weddings.

The ceremony itself was brief —confined to taking a few photographs and exchanging congratulations— but its significance went beyond the moment. It offered a quiet message that daily life continues despite war, and that hope can emerge even in places shaped by loss and instability.

For many Kurds in Syria, repeated displacement has become a defining part of life in recent years, particularly in the country’s north and northeast, where shifting frontlines and changing security conditions have forced families to move multiple times within the same country.

Suleiman and Nirvan’s wedding reflects the experience of thousands of displaced Syrians whose lives are repeatedly interrupted by military escalations, leaving them to rebuild their daily routines —shelter, work, and family life— from scratch each time.

Last Friday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that more than 134,000 people were displaced in northeastern Syria within days due to clashes between government forces and the SDF, despite the continuation of a fragile ceasefire.