In the last week we have seen the explosive collapse of the Syrian regime, triggering a general mobilisation across the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES, a.k.a. Rojava) and a developing humanitarian crisis. Simultaneously, repression of Kurds in Britain has increased sharply with an unprecedented raid on the Kurdish Community Centre in London, leading to a prolonged police occupation and ongoing detention of several Kurdish activists, who are now on hunger strike.
There is a lot to keep track of, so we will try to collect various news items in one place and send them out in a weekly bulletin, starting this week.
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Crisis in Syria
- On Nov 27, Syrian opposition forces spearheaded by former al-Qaeda offshoot Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched a new offensive against Assad government forces; the first such offensive since 2020. Days later, they captured the key city of Aleppo after the government forces there collapsed.
- On Dec 1, the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES) declared a general mobilisation across Rojava, both to defend the territory and to receive an anticipated influx of internally-displaced persons (IDPs).
- Also on Dec 1, the Turkish-backed ‘Syrian National Army’ (SNA) seized control of the city of Tal Rifaat within Rojava. The SNA been occupying the former Rojava canton of Afrin since 2018.
- HTS was formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra (a.k.a. Al-Nusra Front). They have publicly repudiated their historical ties to jihadi extremism and have repeatedly stressed that they seek a diverse, multicultural Syria, and they are being aided in this recuperation by mainstream Western media outlets who characterise them as ‘moderates’. They have spoken of implementing council democracy and appear to have at least a limited non-aggression agreement with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF, the armed forces of the DAANES), which has allowed the SDF to establish a humanitarian corridor out of Aleppo. However, HTS remain a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK and there are reports of opposition groups (possibly HTS, possibly other jihadi militias within the coalition) bearing ISIS imagery, freeing ISIS prisoners (amongst many other prisoners) and destroying Christmas decorations in Aleppo.
- The SNA, meanwhile, is a Turkish-backed collection of extremist jihadi groups and criminal gangs which has been responsible for countless crimes against humanity within the occupied territory of Afrin. There have already been reports of massacres in the areas it has taken over, including the abduction of women in an echo of ISIS’ invasion of Sinjar (a.k.a. Şingal) and subsequent genocide of the Yazidi population. They are reported to have attacked the huge convoy of displaced people headed towards Rojava, details of which are only now beginning to filter out as survivors arrive.
- On Dec 2, Heyva Sor a Kurdistanê launched a fundraising callout to help them support IDPs from Tal Rifaat and the surrounding Shahba region, plus the Ashrafiyeh and Sheikh Maqsood (a.k.a. Şêxmeqsûd) neighbourhoods of Aleppo.
- On Dec 5, the DAANES launched a worldwide call for reporters to visit North and East Syria to report on the situation there. Also, opposition forces captured the city of Hama.
- On Dec 6, the SDF took the city of Deir ez-Zor from Syrian government forces. Whilst the SDF is often (mis)characterised as a ‘Kurdish’ or ‘Kurdish-led’ force, this has not been true for some time now: the vast majority of the Deir ez-Zor Military Council are Arabs, as in other Arab-majority areas of the DAANES.
- Over 100,000 IDPs have so far arrived in Rojava, primarily refugees from Tal Rifaat and Aleppo. This is on top of nearly ~500,000 IDPs for whom the DAANES is already responsible following the Turkish invasion of Afrin in 2018. Freezing temperatures are setting in and assistance is urgently needed.
- On Dec 8, HTS-led forces took the capital city of Damascus as Bashar al-Assad fled the country, signalling the complete fall of the Syrian regime.
- The SNA are now attacking east, to the SDF-controlled city of Manbij (a.k.a. Minbic), the capture of which would give them control of the portion of Rojava bordering Turkey west of the Euphrates river— fulfilling a long-standing Turkish objective. So far, these attacks have been repelled.
- Between territorial gains and losses, the SDF now controls ~40% of Syrian territory (up from ~30% prior to this week), including previously government-controlled pockets of the Rojavan cities of Hasakah (a.k.a. Hesekê) and Qamishli (a.k.a. Qamişlo) and all Syrian territory east of the Euphrates. Some neighbourhoods of Aleppo remain under SDF control, though reportedly under siege from the occupation militias.
UK Repression
- On Nov 27, the Metropolitan Police launched an unprecedented raid on the Kurdish Community Centre in London, arresting several prominent organisers. The police then occupied the Centre until 5 Dec before retreating. 7 organisers remain in police detention, and have entered a hunger strike.
- Several demonstrations and solidarity events have taken place and are planned in cities across the UK.
- A petition is seeking signatures calling on the UK government to stop the persecution of Kurds