Sarah Glynn reports on the last week in Kurdistan.

This week, events in the Kurdish regions have been too big for the rest of the world to ignore, but the framing of them, by both media and politicians, has been dangerously lopsided.

Situations are changing rapidly, and our ability to follow the changes is hampered by the fog of war in Syria and the internet blackout in Iran, as well as by a flood of mendacious propaganda. All I can attempt here is a blurred snapshot of the situation this Friday night, together with a bit of background to help throw a light on what is going on.

Aleppo

I will begin in the predominantly Kurdish Aleppo neighbourhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh, where the army of the Syrian Transitional Government is attempting to take over control through indiscriminate bombardment and through the same sadistic racist violence previously unleashed against the Alawites and the Druze.

The neighbourhoods are part of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, but physically separated from the rest, leaving them vulnerable. An agreement with the Transitional Government in April was supposed to allow them to join up with the other, government-controlled, parts of the city while retaining their own internal organisation. In line with this agreement, the Administration’s Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) withdrew, leaving only the lightly armed internal security forces.

Instead of the agreed integration, which could have been a model for the rest of Syria, the neighbourhoods have been kept under a blockade for over six months, and are now facing a full-scale military assault. The attacking forces are a mixture of militias who, while officially part of the Syrian Army, are paid for and largely controlled by Turkey, and fighters directly controlled by the Transitional Government. Many of the men were involved in the violence against the Alawites and Druze, including former members of ISIS now sporting new uniforms. There are even fighters openly wearing ISIS patches.

The Turkish Government has been active in ensuring that the March agreement between the Autonomous Administration and the Transitional Government never matured into the intended integration of North and East Syria into the new Syrian state; and they have encouraged Damascus to turn to the military option. They portray the Administration as responsible for the failure of integration talks, and use this as a casus belli. The major assault began on 6th January, two days after the last integration meeting.

Foza Yusuf, a leading figure in the Administration, explained to Amberin Zaman for al-Monitor, “we were expecting an attack of this kind. The reason for this is that even though we reached points of agreement during our [integration] talks with Damascus, the Syrian interim government avoided issuing a joint statement [after the talks]. This stance raised doubts and concerns with regard to their intentions, particularly as the meeting was curtailed based on absurd justifications. Moreover, Damascus had been imposing a ferocious siege on both neighbourhoods for a long time while moving heavy weapons and forces into the vicinity.”

The attack

The bombardment of the autonomous neighbourhoods began on Tuesday afternoon, after government forces had forcibly cleared an adjacent Christian neighbourhood to use as a military base. Residents of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh were given an ultimatum to leave before 3pm on Wednesday, when the areas would be considered a military zone. Some did leave, but the majority remained.

These civilian neighbourhoods have come under intense attack, with deaths and injuries mounting. Hospitals have been deliberately destroyed – there is even a government document with a hospital marked as a target – and when the government fighters have managed to enter the neighbourhoods, they have demonstrated the racist bloodlust that has become sadly familiar from earlier attacks against minorities. Tens of thousands of residents have fled and there have been reports of fleeing residents being abducted by their attackers.

During Thursday night, America and France helped negotiate a ceasefire, but Damascus demanded that for this to continue, the neighbourhood security forces must all leave the area – in other words, total surrender. On Friday afternoon, with ever mounting evidence of the murderous intent of government forces, the People’s Council for the two neighbourhoods announced their decision to stay and defend the people.  

International response

Among the Kurds, comparisons are being made with the defence of Kobanê against ISIS, but this time, America and Europe are invested in the attackers. When governments talk about wanting a stable Syria, they mean a country that is safe for business to invest in – and to send refugees back to.

Al-Sharaa has convinced Western leaders that he can make Syria stable. The propaganda coming out of Damascus and Ankara provides cover for ignoring the Kurds, even though no thinking person could be taken in by claims that the Kurds initiated this fight, which can only cause them harm. On Friday, the European Union’s highest representatives sat down with al-Sharaa and promised Syria hundreds of millions of Euros and political partnership while Syrian troops were massacring civilians in Aleppo.

Meanwhile in Iran

I would like to be able to look properly at what is happening in Iran, but piecing this together is being made even more difficult by the media blackout – also by the ability of the supporters of the son of the ousted shah to push forward their narrative at the expense of the real picture.

The current wave of unrest began, on 28th December, with protests in Tehran against the cost-of-living crisis, and it quickly evolved into a movement against the government that has spread to cities and towns across the country. The crowds have been large and increasingly fearless, but it is far from clear if they will be able to gather enough momentum to carry them over the line. There is also the threat of further Israeli attacks, and many guesses about what Trump might do. The internet blackout makes it harder for protestors to organise, and easier for the government to use force without repercussions; but, of course, there were revolutions before the internet.

Protest has been particularly strong in the Kurdish areas, which are particularly badly oppressed and economically deprived. Kurds have nothing to lose, though they face exceptional brutality from a government that doesn’t hesitate to use fatal force. Kurds are politically organised around the demand, not only for general freedom and democracy, but also for Kurdish autonomy.  The seven major Kurdish political parties have been working together, and on Thursday they paralysed the Kurdish region with their call for a general strike.

From the snug safety of my Strasbourg flat, the bravery shown by the Iran protestors and by the residents of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh is hard to comprehend.

Sarah Glynn is a writer and activist – check her website and follow her on Twitter or bluesky. For four and a half years she wrote a weekly review of Kurdish news for Medya News. She blogs regularly on Kurdish affairs here. This article is drawn from the blog: it first appeared here.

Image: Aleppo https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aleppo_skyline,_Syria.jpg Author: Vyacheslav Argenberg, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.