The women’s revolution in Rojava is under attack. The jihadist Syrian Transitional Government (STG), with the backing of Western powers, is committing a genocide against the Kurdish people. This attack is not just physical—it is an attack on the ideology of the Kurdish Freedom Movement, an ideology that stands in opposition to domination, destruction and patriarchy.

As we speak, the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North East Syria (DAANES)—also known as Rojava—is in full scale mass mobilisation to defend itself from attacks by the fascist Syrian Transitional Government.

Attacks on the Kurdish people and other ethnic minorities in Syria have been escalating since the current Syrian Transitional Government seized power last winter. The recent escalation began last week when, despite incredible resistance, the Kurdish neighbourhoods in Aleppo were brutally attacked and taken over by the STG. These Jihadist forces moved north and began attacks on Raqqa—the former capital of ISIS—and Tabqa. In a short time, key infrastructure was attacked and the cities fell into the hands of the Jihadists: including Tishreen Dam (a vital energy and water source) and 4 ISIS prisons, resulting in the release of hundreds, possibly thousands, of ISIS fighters. These prisons were supposed to be under the eyes of the SDF and US-led International Coalition against ISIS. However, whilst the SDF forces fought bravely, the US forces who were based just 2km away from the prisons refused to respond to their calls for support.

Kobane is a city which has become a symbol of democracy, triumphing over fascism. Just 11 years ago, it lay under siege by ISIS but after fierce struggle and thousands of martyrs, on the 26th of January 2015 Kobane was liberated. Now it is besieged again, with no electricity, no water, and little internet. Food is scarce and already several babies have died because of the cold. The enemy is now not only ISIS and the Turkish state, but also NATO-trained and -equipped fascist militias in the Syrian Arab Army (SAA).

It seems that the enemy is many, but all of these attacks on the women’s revolution represent the same same imperialist and fascist violence with the same interests. We must never forget that the enemy is one, organized under a single mentality, which is that of domination, violence, patriarchy and the state. The women’s revolution threatens their source of power and for that reason it is the target of such violence.

Our current analysis of the situation is this: this situation is not an accident. Bashar Al-Assad, himself an oppressive and authoritarian leader, had long been outside the control of Western Imperial states. As a result, western powers have engaged in a highly coordinated long-term plan to oust him, by backing militias such as the terrorist group HTS, in order to install Jolani as a puppet ruler, giving imperialist powers access to Syria’s resources.

The evidence we see for this includes the British State quietly removing HTS from the proscribed organisations list in October. After Jolani was put in power, the British government was quick to say that diplomatic contact was needed, sending several diplomatic delegations to Damascus in the first year- one such trip was made by Foreign Minister David Lammy, who announced a financial support package for Syria.

But Britain already had a deep covert relationship with HTS, seeing an opportunity to bring Jolani out of the jihadist world and qualify him for politics. This was done through an NGO called Inter-Mediate, which receives millions of taxpayers money in Foreign Office funding and is founded by Jonathan Powell. Powell is a British civil servant, known as Tony Blair’s right hand man, who had a huge influence on the war crimes committed during the Iraq War and who is responsible for numerous deceitful ceasefire deals in Palestine, Ireland and Colombia.

Powell led Inter-Mediate until just before HTS took Damascus, at which point he was appointed to the position of Starmer’s National Security Advisor.

The British state sees fascist political projects such as that of the Syrian Transitional Government as business opportunities. Fascism needs arms and intelligence, and imperialist powers exchange this for cheap resources like oil and minerals. This symbiotic relationship is blatant as 3 months after the installation of Jolani as leader, UK lifted sanctions on 24 major Syrian oil companies and banks. Further to this, as the attacks towards the DAANES has intensified, we’ve seen an increase in support from the US, EU and Israel including a $620million support package to Damascus from the EU, pledged on the 9th of January 2026, and new advanced weaponry supplied by Turkish, US and UK states.

The fight on our hands is not simply against an extremist ideology, it is a fight against the ideology of domination, genocide, patriarchy and imperialism. This is the same ideology of the British state and of the American state which doesn’t care about sovereignty of land or people in its pursuit of money, power and resources.

The attacks on Rojava are inseparable from the attacks on Sudan, Congo, Palestine, Venezuela, Ukraine and all countries that are tangled in vicious imperialist proxy wars over their land and resources. It is the same fight with the same politicians and arms companies reaping their rewards from the suffering of millions.

Imperialist patriarchy is globally organised, and our resistance must be too.

To have hope amongst the crisis we are facing, we must be internationalists. We must understand that the future of Rojava and the future of the Middle East is our future. If today the imperialists will bring a fascist like Jolani to power in Syria then tomorrow they will wage war on all the peoples of the world. Because of this, everyone around the world has a direct stake in this fight – they are fighting for us, we must fight for them.

On this anniversary of the liberation of Kobane we remember the bitter fighting and struggle that took place with the knowledge that today our comrades follow their same footsteps. And that now, like then, our unity will once again prevail against fascism.