Syrian army advances in the northeast to end Kurdish administration
Syrian government forces have intensified their offensive in areas administered by Kurdish-led forces. The advance has been accompanied by support from local Arab tribes, Turkish drones, and Washington’s silent approval, while talks between the central government and the Kurds have failed. There are fears of further destabilisation after Islamic State fighters broke out of prisons previously run by the Kurdish autonomous administration.
Aleppo (AsiaNews) – After taking control of three Kurdish-majority neighbourhoods in the city of Aleppo over the weekend, Syrian government forces continued their advance into northeast Syria, an area known as Rojava, administered since 2015 by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Yesterday afternoon, after five hours of talks, an attempt at a diplomatic solution between Ahmed al-Sharaa, the current (unelected) Syrian president, and Mazloum Abdi, the SDF commander, failed.
The Syrian army's advance was made possible by several factors, including the presence of Turkish drones and the contribution of local Arab tribes, mostly Sunni Muslim clans living under SDF control in the Deir Ezzor governorate and the city of Raqqa. Unhappy after years of Kurdish rule, they saw the advance of government forces as “liberation”.
Videos circulating online recently show young Arabs celebrating by tearing down posters of Abdullah Öcalan, founder of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), and statues erected in memory of the People's Protection Units (YPG) fighters who fell in battle against the Islamic State militants.
For Turkey (along with Qatar, the current government’s main sponsor), the YPG and the twin YPJ female units, which merged with the SDF, are terrorist groups that must be eliminated.
In recent days, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan praised the Syrian army's offensive.
But the current upheavals were also made possible by the United States switching alliance. After years of militarily supporting the SDF in the fight against the Islamic State, Washington scaled back its support, focusing on Ahmed al-Sharaa, who had joined al-Qaeda before becoming head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the armed group that led the offensive against the brutal regime of Bashar al-Assad, ending it on 8 December 2024.
Al-Sharaa, who before becoming president went by the name Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, had a US$ 10 million bounty on his head.
Tom Barrack, US ambassador to Turkey and special envoy for Syria, was also present at yesterday's meeting between Abdi and the former jihadi.
According to Rohilat Efrin, the YPJ's general commander, Barrack reportedly displayed a “weak stance,” reneging on a promise that the Kurds would be able to maintain some form of self-government.
Syria’s government, perhaps aware that the United States is already engaged in several theatres, did not hesitate to make further demands, ordering the SDF to immediately withdraw from Hasakah and Kobane, hand over all weapons, and enlist individually in the Syrian army, not in battalions as initially agreed.
Efrin described the situation as an attempt to impose “total surrender” and end 13 years of Kurdish self-government.
Last year, the Syrian government and the Kurdish administration had already attempted to reach a diplomatic agreement to integrate the YPG and YPJ into the Syrian army. In recent days, Sharaa had also announced a ceasefire with the SDF, stating that Kurdish education would be protected and Nowruz would be a national holiday.
The Kurdish administration, however, demanded greater guarantees for government autonomy and greater security protections.
While Arabs opposed the SDF administration (which some view as undemocratic, contrary to Kurdish claims), Kurds fear the groups incorporated into the Syrian army after the fall of the Assad regime, since they engaged in violence last year against the Alawite and Druze minorities and crimes against humanity against the Kurds.
Even local sources opposed to SDF control say they are terrified of the possibility of the Syrian army entering their areas. And their concerns are not unfounded.
Today, a Syrian minister urged mosques across the country to celebrate the “conquests and victories" achieved by government forces in eastern Syria.
For his part, Sharaa appointed a relative, Abdulrahman Salameh, a former deputy governor of Aleppo and jihadi emir, as the new governor of Raqqa province.
The escape of hundreds of Islamic State fighters from prisons held by the SDF is another source of concern.
After the war against the Islamic State ended, the United States entrusted the Rojava self-government with running the prisons holding approximately 9,000 jihadis, mostly of foreign origin.
For years, the Kurds had called on the international community to solve the situation, either by initiating legal proceedings against the inmates or by enrolling former fighters in deradicalisation programmes. But few exceptions, like Iraq, which has repatriated several of its citizens, almost nothing has been done by other countries.
Hundreds (if not thousands) of these militants have escaped in the past few hours. The SDF said they had lost control of Shaddadi prison, south of the city of Hasakah, after an attack by government forces on the prison that left dozens dead and wounded.
The anti-Islamic State coalition, just a few kilometres away, did not intervene despite repeated appeals, they reported.
Last night, the Syrian army confirmed the escape of 120 prisoners, claiming to have recaptured 81, and later reported imposing a curfew. According to Kurdish sources, however, 1,500 people escaped from the prison.
Some observers accuse the Kurds of using the terrorists’ escape as a pretext to gain external military support.
Meanwhile, armed clashes also broke out at al-Aqtan prison in Raqqa, while two other detention facilities in the city have been freed by the local population.
Also located in northeast Syria is the al-Hol camp, which primarily houses the wives and children of jihadi fighters.
The text of the agreement signed between the SDF and the Syrian government a few days ago stipulates that prison administration will be handed over to the Syrian government, which will assume "full legal and security responsibility" for these facilities.
Needless to say, Kurdish forces are wary of the inmates’ ties to the former jihadi militias supporting the current government.
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30/11/2022 14:42
