can be seen in the background.
Early history An ancient
tell has been identified in the city centre by
Dominique Charpin as the location of the city of
Qirdahat. Another possibility is that it was the site of the ancient
Aramean city of
Magarisu, mentioned by the Assyrian king
Ashur-bel-kala, who fought the Arameans near the city. The etymology of
Magarisu is
Aramaic (from the root
mgrys) and means "pasture land". The city was the capital of the Aramean state of
Bit-Yahiri, which was invaded by Assyrian kings
Tukulti-Ninurta II and
Ashurnasirpal II. Excavations in the tell discovered remains dating to the
Middle-Assyrian,
Byzantine and
Islamic eras. The last level of occupation ended in the fifteenth century. A period of 1,500 years separated the Middle-Assyrian and Byzantine levels. There are numerous other archaeological tells in the surrounding area, such as
Tall Sulaymānī, which is 7.6 kilometers to the north of the city. In
Ottoman times, the town was insignificant. Today's settlement was established in April 1922 as a French military post, which soon grew into a town. French troops were stationed on Citadel Hill at that time. In 1942, there were 7,835 inhabitants in Hasakah, several schools, two churches and a gas station. The new city grew from the 1950s to become the administrative centre of the region. The economic boom in the cities of
Qamishli and Hasakah was a result of the irrigation projects started in the 1960s, which transformed northeastern Syria into a
cotton-growing area. On 23 March 1993, a large fire broke out in the
Al-Hasakah Central Prison after prisoners protested the conditions there, leaving 61 inmates dead and 90 others injured. The detainees accused the police chief and the
Syrian forces of having set the fire. The government blamed five inmates, who were executed on 24 May 1993.
Syrian Civil War On 26 January 2011, in one of the first events of the
2011 Syrian protests, Hasan Ali Akleh from Hasakah poured gasoline on himself and set himself on fire, in the same way Tunisian
Mohamed Bouazizi had in Tunis on 17 December 2010. According to eyewitnesses, the action was "a protest against the
Syrian government". In the
Battle of Hasakah of summer 2015, the Syrian Government lost control of much of the city to the
Islamic State, which was then captured by the
Kurdish YPG. Afterwards, some 75% of Hasakah and all of the surrounding countryside were under the administration of the
Federation of Northern Syria – Rojava, while only some inner-city areas were controlled by the Syrian government. The United Nations estimates that violence related to the
civil War has displaced up to 120,000 people. On 1 August 2016, the
Syrian Democratic Council opened a public office in Hasakah. On 16 August 2016, the
Battle of al-Hasakah (2016) started, with the YPG and
Asayish capturing most of the remaining areas held by government forces. On 23 August 2016, an agreement between the YPG and the
Syrian Army resulted in a
ceasefire within the city. Al-Hasakah has since been part of the
Jazira Region in the framework of the
Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. On 20 January 2022, al-Sina'a prison
came under attack by
Islamic State forces who attempted to free ex-IS fighters incarcerated there. Following the initial attack, clashes spread to the neighbourhoods of al-Zuhour and Ghuwayran as imprisoned Islamic State militants attempted to escape. After a 6-day battle, SDF and Coalition forces managed to push back the attack and secure the area. After thwarting their attack on Ghweran prison, they barricaded themselves in the Faculty of Economics building in the Syrian government-controlled areas in the city of Hasakah, targeting civilians and the movements of the internal security forces' vehicles. Accordingly, international coalition warplanes bombed the college building.
Hasakah Security Box The Hasakah "Security Box" was a
Syrian government enclave within Hasakah, established in August 2016. It contained a prison, immigration office, mayor's palace, police headquarters, and local army command center. Following the
capture of the city from ISIS in 2015, government forces controlled 25% of the city while the
YPG controlled 75%. On August 16, 2016, a small skirmish erupted into the
Second Battle of al-Hasakah between the Asayish alongside the YPG and the Syrian government. After a week-long battle, Kurdish fighters secured control of over 95% of the city.
Russia mediated a ceasefire that was put into place on August 23, 2016, according to which only police officers and interior ministry forces were allowed to return to the "Security Box" to protect the government's department buildings. In July 2018, the
Syrian Army raised the Syrian flag over the
Al-Nashwa District, which was previously controlled by the
YPG and the
Asayish security forces in the city of
Hasakah. However, in September through November 2019, Asayish forces were still present in al-Nashwa district and able to make arrests. In January 2021, government-controlled parts of Al-Hasakah and
Qamishli,
came under siege by the Asayish due to disputes with the Damascus government. In March 2023, the US conducted retaliation strikes against IRGC forces in the city, after a drone attack which killed a US contractor. In August 2024, the SDF imposed another week-long siege on the enclave in retaliation for cross-border attacks by tribal militias on SDF positions in
Deir ez-Zor, originating from government-controlled areas. The siege was once again lifted through Russian mediation efforts.
After the fall of the Assad regime The city came under full control of the Kurdish forces on December 6–7, 2024 after the
fall of the Assad Regime.
Ba'athist Syrian forces handed over control of the remaining territory to the
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) with no resistance. Following the
2026 northeastern Syria offensive, the
Syrian transitional government forces entered the city on 2 February as part of a ceasefire agreement. ==Climate==