Kurdistan
Protests wave the Kurdistan flag during a demonstration in support of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) as they march in Erbil on January 9, 2026. Photo: Safin Hamid / AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Protests erupted across the Kurdistan Region and abroad on Monday as Kurds rallied in support of northeast Syria (Rojava), where renewed fighting, alleged abuses by Damascus-affiliated forces, and fears of a humanitarian catastrophe have fueled anger toward the United States and calls for Kurdish unity.
A large crowd gathered in front of the US consulate in Erbil, with demonstrators condemning Washington’s stance amid the escalating violence in Rojava.
“Our message is the US consulate, we gave 30,000 martyrs in Rojava in the fight against terrorist… to be abandoned now,” a man said in front of the consulate while waving a Kurdistan flag, his daughter seated on his shoulders.
The demonstrations come after Damascus-affiliated factions launched a wide-scale offensive early this month, overtaking large portions of territory held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
A young man from Rojava’s symbolic city of Kobane addressed the US consulate, saying “the fascist Jolani must stop the conflict.”
Abu Mohammed al-Jolani is the nom de guerre of Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led the extremist Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militia that overthrew Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
The Syrian Arab Army and Damascus-affiliated forces have continued their attacks on Rojava despite a US-brokered ceasefire signed between SDF chief Mazloum Abdi and Sharaa. Foza Alyusuf, a senior member of northeast Syria’s ruling Democratic Union Party (PYD), told Rudaw on Monday that the meeting was not positive, accusing the transitional government of seeking to dismantle Kurdish self-rule and opposing Kurdish rights.
In Sulaimani’s southern Kalar district, a Peshmerga fighter addressed a crowd, saying, “We want to be with our brothers in arms, in heart, in soul.”
He called on Kurdistan Region leaders “to go to the rescue of our brothers in Rojava as before,” prompting repeated chants of “Bji [long live] Peshmerga.”
Areas around Kobane and its southern countryside are facing mounting pressure from Damascus-affiliated forces. ISIS attacked Kobane in 2014, invading parts of the city, but the SDF - with support from the US-led global coalition and Peshmerga forces from the Kurdistan Region - liberated the city months later.
The battle marked ISIS’s first major military defeat and propelled Kobane into global headlines as a symbol of resistance against extremism.
Now, the city is besieged by Damascus-affiliated forces and on the brink of a humanitarian disaster, with food and water supplies expected to run out within days, Kobane-based economic expert Mustafa Khalil told Rudaw.
Amid the fighting, the SDF on Monday called on young Kurds in Rojava and Kurdish communities in Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and Europe to “unite” and “join the resistance.”
Beyond the Kurdistan Region, demonstrations in support of Rojava Kurds were also held in Turkey, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands.
Near the US consulate in Erbil, a man from Rojava’s Hasaka province urged preeminent Kurdish leader President Masoud Barzani “to allow Peshmerga to go” to Rojava, as they did in 2014.
In Sulaimani, a man told Rudaw that he traveled from the city’s outskirts early in the morning, leaving his wife and children behind. “God willing, we will protect our sisters, mothers and brothers,” he said.
A middle-aged woman attending the protest with her newlywed husband said, “We are here to fight; they are our brothers and sisters. We are proud of them [Kurdish fighters in Rojava].”
Her husband, from Turkey’s Van province and living in the Kurdistan Region for the past 12 years, said, “We should not live for [our own] interests; we should live for each other.”
Prominent Kurdish actor and filmmaker Shwan Atoof, speaking during protests in Sulaimani, said, “We seek to bring all people, all of society out to the streets and create such civil pressure in all provinces… all classes to shutter shops, shutter the bazaar, to strike work, this is a very, very large conspiracy against the Kurds.”
“The threat against us is massive,” he added.
Meanwhile, dozens gathered in Sulaimani on Tuesday morning to travel toward Rojava by bus, saying they intended to join the fight.
A Kurdish resident from Rojava pleaded with Kurdish leaders to unite. “Be united, enough!” he said, adding that his family is in dire conditions and that Kobane is besieged. “Children are dying… no one is left,” he said.
A resident in Duhok said, “we call on the people of Kurdistan and Rojava to not be afraid, because we are together [in this].”
“Anfal is happening again,” Mullah Hawar Shafa’i told Rudaw.
“Our message is that any religious scholar who does not [join] this stance is a traitor,” he added.
Mullah Aram Talabani also called for a unified Kurdish stance in support of Rojava, criticizing those opposing Kurdish forces in the Kurdish enclave, drawing cheers from the crowd.
“If we are silent about the attack on Rojava, it means we are silent about attacks on all the parts of Kurdistan,” Talabani said.
“The killing and assault on Kurds is unmatched,” he added, saying, “they are betraying Kurds.”
Videos circulating online appear to show captured SDF members and civilians being insulted, beaten, and killed by armed men. One video shows a man referring to two female fighters in Arabic as “the nicest gifts” to another militant, implying they could be used as sex slaves.
Under Sharaa, Syria has seen repeated waves of violence, including clashes in mid-July that left nearly 800 people dead in the Druze-majority Suwayda province and nearly 2,000 killed in Alawite-majority coastal regions in March, according to monitoring groups. Many of the killings were attributed to Damascus-affiliated forces.
Earlier clashes in January between the Kurdish Internal Security Forces (Asayish) and the Syrian Arab Army and its affiliated forces in Aleppo’s Kurdish-majority neighborhoods killed dozens of residents and displaced more than 150,000 people.
A large crowd gathered in front of the US consulate in Erbil, with demonstrators condemning Washington’s stance amid the escalating violence in Rojava.
“Our message is the US consulate, we gave 30,000 martyrs in Rojava in the fight against terrorist… to be abandoned now,” a man said in front of the consulate while waving a Kurdistan flag, his daughter seated on his shoulders.
The demonstrations come after Damascus-affiliated factions launched a wide-scale offensive early this month, overtaking large portions of territory held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
A young man from Rojava’s symbolic city of Kobane addressed the US consulate, saying “the fascist Jolani must stop the conflict.”
Abu Mohammed al-Jolani is the nom de guerre of Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led the extremist Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militia that overthrew Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
The Syrian Arab Army and Damascus-affiliated forces have continued their attacks on Rojava despite a US-brokered ceasefire signed between SDF chief Mazloum Abdi and Sharaa. Foza Alyusuf, a senior member of northeast Syria’s ruling Democratic Union Party (PYD), told Rudaw on Monday that the meeting was not positive, accusing the transitional government of seeking to dismantle Kurdish self-rule and opposing Kurdish rights.
In Sulaimani’s southern Kalar district, a Peshmerga fighter addressed a crowd, saying, “We want to be with our brothers in arms, in heart, in soul.”
He called on Kurdistan Region leaders “to go to the rescue of our brothers in Rojava as before,” prompting repeated chants of “Bji [long live] Peshmerga.”
Areas around Kobane and its southern countryside are facing mounting pressure from Damascus-affiliated forces. ISIS attacked Kobane in 2014, invading parts of the city, but the SDF - with support from the US-led global coalition and Peshmerga forces from the Kurdistan Region - liberated the city months later.
The battle marked ISIS’s first major military defeat and propelled Kobane into global headlines as a symbol of resistance against extremism.
Now, the city is besieged by Damascus-affiliated forces and on the brink of a humanitarian disaster, with food and water supplies expected to run out within days, Kobane-based economic expert Mustafa Khalil told Rudaw.
Amid the fighting, the SDF on Monday called on young Kurds in Rojava and Kurdish communities in Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and Europe to “unite” and “join the resistance.”
Beyond the Kurdistan Region, demonstrations in support of Rojava Kurds were also held in Turkey, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands.
Near the US consulate in Erbil, a man from Rojava’s Hasaka province urged preeminent Kurdish leader President Masoud Barzani “to allow Peshmerga to go” to Rojava, as they did in 2014.
In Sulaimani, a man told Rudaw that he traveled from the city’s outskirts early in the morning, leaving his wife and children behind. “God willing, we will protect our sisters, mothers and brothers,” he said.
A middle-aged woman attending the protest with her newlywed husband said, “We are here to fight; they are our brothers and sisters. We are proud of them [Kurdish fighters in Rojava].”
Her husband, from Turkey’s Van province and living in the Kurdistan Region for the past 12 years, said, “We should not live for [our own] interests; we should live for each other.”
Prominent Kurdish actor and filmmaker Shwan Atoof, speaking during protests in Sulaimani, said, “We seek to bring all people, all of society out to the streets and create such civil pressure in all provinces… all classes to shutter shops, shutter the bazaar, to strike work, this is a very, very large conspiracy against the Kurds.”
“The threat against us is massive,” he added.
Meanwhile, dozens gathered in Sulaimani on Tuesday morning to travel toward Rojava by bus, saying they intended to join the fight.
A Kurdish resident from Rojava pleaded with Kurdish leaders to unite. “Be united, enough!” he said, adding that his family is in dire conditions and that Kobane is besieged. “Children are dying… no one is left,” he said.
A resident in Duhok said, “we call on the people of Kurdistan and Rojava to not be afraid, because we are together [in this].”
“Anfal is happening again,” Mullah Hawar Shafa’i told Rudaw.
“Our message is that any religious scholar who does not [join] this stance is a traitor,” he added.
Mullah Aram Talabani also called for a unified Kurdish stance in support of Rojava, criticizing those opposing Kurdish forces in the Kurdish enclave, drawing cheers from the crowd.
“If we are silent about the attack on Rojava, it means we are silent about attacks on all the parts of Kurdistan,” Talabani said.
“The killing and assault on Kurds is unmatched,” he added, saying, “they are betraying Kurds.”
Videos circulating online appear to show captured SDF members and civilians being insulted, beaten, and killed by armed men. One video shows a man referring to two female fighters in Arabic as “the nicest gifts” to another militant, implying they could be used as sex slaves.
Under Sharaa, Syria has seen repeated waves of violence, including clashes in mid-July that left nearly 800 people dead in the Druze-majority Suwayda province and nearly 2,000 killed in Alawite-majority coastal regions in March, according to monitoring groups. Many of the killings were attributed to Damascus-affiliated forces.
Earlier clashes in January between the Kurdish Internal Security Forces (Asayish) and the Syrian Arab Army and its affiliated forces in Aleppo’s Kurdish-majority neighborhoods killed dozens of residents and displaced more than 150,000 people.
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