Syria
Logo of the Democratic Autonomous Administation of North and East Syria (DAANES). Graphic: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The administration of northeast Syria (Rojava) on Sunday condemned the characterization of the seizure of Aleppo's Kurdish-majority neighborhoods by Damascus and its affiliated forces as a "victory." It denounced the operation as "an act of treachery," citing the involvement of Islamic State (ISIS) fighters and warning that any authority that relies on "another state against its own people loses its legitimacy."
In a statement on its official Facebook page, the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES) condemned the "large-scale military attack" on Aleppo's Ashrafiyeh and Sheikh Maqsood neighborhoods, describing it as an “uneven battle” that involved “the use of all kinds of heavy weaponry against simple individual arms."
The DAANES added that the six-day clashes pitted "thousands of armed group members, including ISIS elements, against hundreds of [Kurdish] Internal Security Forces [Asayish] personnel," denouncing the assault as “far removed from humanitarian and ethical values and internationally recognized rules of war."
Accordingly, the DAANES rejected the characterization of the takeover of Aleppo's Kurdish-majority neighborhoods by armed groups affiliated with the defense ministry as a “victory,” calling it instead “an act of treachery and a major crime committed by an authority that claims to represent the state yet kills its citizens and violates their dignity."
Deadly clashes erupted Tuesday in Aleppo’s Kurdish neighborhoods between Syrian state forces and affiliated armed groups on one side, and the Asayish on the other.
The violence killed at least 82 people, including 43 civilians, 38 government-aligned fighters, and at least one Asayish member, according to a Sunday report from the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
On Saturday, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which serves as the de facto military force in Rojava, said that a Turkish drone targeted their positions in the predominantly Kurdish enclave in northeast Syria, coinciding with ongoing clashes in Aleppo.
The DAANES said Sunday that the Aleppo attacks were “part of a Turkish plan” backed by “undisclosed international and regional support,” warning that “any authority that relies on another state against its own people loses its legitimacy, because the people alone are the source of legitimacy.”
The Rojava administration called the Aleppo events “a new episode in the ongoing targeting of the Kurdish presence,” an “integral component” of the city, affirming the will of the Kurdish people "who have resisted siege and oppression for decades, under both Ba’ath rule and the [current] interim government.”
It warned however that “the massacres, violations, and humiliations committed against our people and martyrs will not go unpunished, and their wounds will remain alive in our consciousness until those responsible are held accountable.”
SDF Commander Mazloum Abdi announced early Sunday that an internationally mediated ceasefire had been reached between Syrian state forces and affiliated factions on, and the Asayish.
In a statement on X, Mazloum Abdi said that, “with mediation by international parties to halt the attacks and violations against our people in Aleppo, we have reached an understanding that leads to a ceasefire and ensures the evacuation of the martyrs, wounded, stranded civilians, and fighters from the Ashrafiyeh and Sheikh Maqsood neighborhoods [in northern Aleppo] to North and East Syria [Rojava].”
“We call on the mediators to uphold their promises to stop the violations and to work toward the safe return of the displaced to their homes,” Abdi added.
For its part, the DAANES called for “an international force” to be deployed to the Kurdish-majority neighborhoods in northern Aleppo "to prevent new crimes,” citing “the lack of trust in the state security forces, which are led by individuals with extremist and ISIS-affiliated ideologies.”
It further urged international and human rights organizations to “monitor the humanitarian and security situation in Ashrafiyeh and Sheikh Maqsood,” emphasizing that “the main objective of this attack is demographic change.”
“We also call on our steadfast people in the neighborhoods to remain in their homes, and we urge those who were forced to flee to return,” the statement concluded.
Last updated at 10:45 am.
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