AP PHOTOS: A tour through northeastern Syria in a moment of uncertainty

QAMISHLI, Syria (AP) — The sudden collapse of the Syrian government and President Bashar Assad’s flight to Russia in December marked a dramatic turning point for the country.

For many, it was a moment of joy after 54 years of Assad family rule and nearly 14 years of a civil war that claimed an estimated half a million lives and displaced half of Syria’s prewar population.

For the people of the Kurdish-ruled enclave in northeast Syria, however, the future remains deeply uncertain.

The shadow of the Islamic State group

A key concern for people in this region is the fate of the estimated 9,000 suspected Islamic State members held in detention centers in northeastern Syria without trial.

While IS has lost control of all of the territory it once held, the U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces continue raids on the group's remaining cells, seizing weapons and detaining suspected militants.

SDF Commander-in-Chief Mazloum Abdi told The Associated Press that IS had exploited the recent instability, seizing weapons from abandoned government posts in eastern Syria following the government’s collapse, thus gaining renewed momentum.

Within the heavily secured annex of the al-Hol camp, where 6,300 people from various countries are held, wives and widows of IS members reportedly celebrated the new status quo, anticipating a “liberation” by IS fighters.

Many in the Kurdish region are wary of the Islamist-led interim government under President Ahmad al-Sharaa — formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, a rebel leader once aligned with al-Qaida before severing ties.

Turkey, another layer of complexity in the landscape

An Apache helicopter patrolled the outskirts of the city of Hassakeh as a heavily loaded pickup truck, filled with displaced people and their salvaged belongings — mattresses, cooking pots, clothes — approached a checkpoint en route to Qamishli. They were fleeing the deadly fighting between the SDF and Turkish-backed militants.

The recent meeting between interim President al-Sharaa and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan highlights these tensions.

At night, the lights of Nusaybin, the adjacent Turkish city, are clearly visible from Qamishli. Despite their proximity, the two cities feel worlds apart; the closed border gives the area a desolate air, broken only by the occasional appearance of a few bored young fighters guarding the frontier.

Images of Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, a Kurdish separatist group, are prominently displayed in shops, adorning walls, and visible on military patches worn by some SDF fighters.

The old market is a vibrant area of Qamishli, where old Chinese sewing machines mix with garment fake brands and pendants of custom jewelry with Kurdish flags. In one of the shops a man who was buying some tea asked an AP photographer for the reason for the reportage, and then told him, “Syria, Turkey, Kurdistan — nobody knows what will happen," before walking away.