After weeks of clashes, the SDF this week went on the offensive against the Turkish-backed gangs of the so-called ‘Syrian National Army’ (SNA). SNA positions folded as the poorly-paid and poorly-trained mercenaries abandoned their posts and focussed instead on robbery and kidnapping. The next step for the SDF looks to be a recapture of the city of Manbij (a.k.a. Minbic), previously taken at great cost from Daesh back in 2016.
Elsewhere, the free city of Kobane remains under occasional bombardment and the threat of a Turkish invasion, the SDF and DAANES authorities continue to push their vision of a shared Syrian federation to the HTS-led government in Damascus and a glimmer of hope emerges from the depths of an island prison in Turkey.
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Crisis in Syria
- At the start of the week, the Syrian Defence Forces (SDF) announced the success of a counter-attack against the so-called ‘Syrian National Army’ (SNA), a Turkish-backed jihadist coalition. Named ‘Operation Martyr Aziz Arab’ after a local SDF fighter killed in recent clashes, the operation resulted in the recapture of the Tishreen Dam, the collapse of several SNA positions and a rapid sweep towards Manbij (a.k.a. Minbic) city, from which the SDF had withdrawn at the start of the month. By the end of the week, the SDF were reportedly around 13km away from the city.
- Manbij residents talk about chaos inside the city, with SNA groups looting, stealing and kidnapping civilians. The residents demanded the entry of SDF. Simultaneously, members of the al-Bubna tribe rose up in arms against the SNA following the kidnap and rape of a 7-year-old girl in the Manbij countryside last weekend.
- Worldwide rights organisations continued to denounce Turkey’s assassination of Kurdish journalists Nazim Daştan and Cîhan Bilgin last week, including the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and Amnesty International.
- On the same day, a mass demonstration in support of the YPJ took place in Qamishlo (a.k.a. Qamişli). All-women YPJ units are taking part in the Tishreen Dam & Qaraqozak Bridge resistance.
- Also, a meeting between SDF commander Mazloum Abdi and the leadership of the Kurdish National Council in Syria (ENKS) took place on Monday, attended by officials of the US-led international coalition. They agreed ‘a unified Kurdish position in the new Syria’. ENKS is a major opposition party within the DAANES (a.k.a. Rojava), alleged to be supported by Turkey.
- Christians protested in several HTS-held cities across Syria following the burning of Christmas decorations. Anti-HTS protests took place in Tartus, Jableh and Lakatia following attacks on members of the Alawite minority group (from which Assad and most of his political and military elite hailed). The DAANES condemned the attacks and called for the preservation of ‘Syria’s diversity and national wealth’.
- Daesh (a.k.a. ISIS, ISIL, Islamic State) continues to carry out increasing numbers of attacks.
- Many thousands of internally-displaced people (IDPs) from the Shehba and Aleppo regions are still being cared for by the DAANES administration and civil organisations. For example, the Kongra Star (women’s movement) in Qamishlo released a video about their work organising shelters and aid.
- Heyva Sor continue to call for donations to support IDPs within Rojava.
- The Turkish state is angling to play an ‘active role’ in the rebuilding of the Syrian military, offering both consultants and infrastructure. They are also seeking a maritime agreement.
- Sheikhs and elders of the al-Bagara tribe affirmed their support for the DAANES and SDF, calling for ‘a united, decentralized Syria‘.
- The SDF’s chief press officer Ferhad Şamî announced that the SDF were willing to merge with the future Syrian Army, pending negotiations. Commander Mazloum Abdi said that ‘the weapons of the SDF will be the weapons of this national army and integrated into it with all its experience and strength’.
- The DAANES continues to call for international reporters to visit Rojava and witness scenes on the ground. The ‘People’s Tribunal on Rojava v. Turkey’, which will take place in Brussels in February, is also inviting journalists to register to attend.
- Tekoşîna Anarşist (Anarchist Struggle) have launched an announcements-only Signal group for daily updates on the ground in Rojava. These updates are also published on their website, and a member of the group was interviewed by the Final Straw radio show/podcast.
- A Twitter campaign calling for the establishment of a no-fly zone over north and east Syria has been launched, using the #NoFlyZone4NESyria tag.
- At the end of the week, de facto leader of Syria Ahmed al-Sharaa announced that elections would not take place any time soon. Head of the Women’s Affairs Office Aisha al-Dibs also made several expressions of the caretaker government’s desire to implement Sharia law across Syria, promising to curtail the rights of women across the country despite HTS’ earlier assurances to the contrary.
Détente in Turkey?
- On Sunday, 2 MPs from the Kurdish DEM Party visited Abdullah Öcalan, the founder of the PKK and leader of the wider Kurdish Freedom Movement (KFM) in prison. This comes on the heels of another visit in October; the first in four years. Öcalan issued a statement stressing ‘the urgency of addressing the Kurdish question through constructive dialogue and parliamentary initiatives’.