In Syria's breadbasket, Kurds and regime battle for wheat After years of drought and civil war, Syria is expected to rake in its best harvest in a long time this summer. But the lion's share of that crop lies in the northeast of the country, in a semi-autonomous Kurdish region beyond full government control. Both sides, the Kurds and the Damascus regime, are desperately battling to get their hands on the invaluable crop. The Kurds are determined to hang on to a strategic resource in the third of the country they hold, while the government wants to restock its siloes and feed its people ahead of retaking full control of the northeast.