KCK says US may have approved ‘assault’ on Aleppo’s Kurdish quarters
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), an umbrella organization of Kurdish parties, said Tuesday that the assault by the Islamist-led interim authorities in Damascus on Aleppo’s Kurdish-majority neighborhoods may have occurred with the “approval of the US and international powers.”
Deadly clashes erupted last week in Aleppo’s Kurdish neighborhoods after the Syrian Arab Army and its allied armed factions launched a large-scale operation to seize Ashrafiyeh and Sheikh Maqsood from the Kurdish Internal Security Forces (Asayish).
The violence left at least 82 people dead, including 43 civilians, according to a Sunday report by the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), and displaced approximately 150,000 others, the Erbil-based Barzani Charity Foundation (BCF) told Rudaw on Saturday.
In a statement, the KCK said the attack followed meetings involving the US, Israel, and Syria, and coincided with what it described as an agreement to cede southern Damascus to Tel Aviv. The bloc claimed this indicates that “the approval of the US and international powers in the region was obtained, or that their silence was ensured.”
Damascus and Tel Aviv resumed negotiations last week after a four-month pause in Washington-mediated talks aimed at de-escalating tensions along their shared border. Syrian state media confirmed that the talks involved senior diplomatic and intelligence officials and noted that they addressed the establishment of a coordination cell between the two sides.
“The attacks on Kurdish neighborhoods in Aleppo and the approach and attitude of state officials toward our party constitute an attempt to sabotage the peace and democratic society process,” the statement read, referring to ongoing peace efforts between Ankara and the now-dissolved Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) - which rebranded as the Kurdistan Freedom Movement in May and formerly spearheaded the KCK.
The KCK further noted that the attacks on Ashrafiyeh and Sheikh Maqsood were aimed to “de-kurdify them” and were driven by “anti-Kurdish sentiment” and “aim to dismantle the autonomous democratic system established by the Kurdish people [in northeast Syria - Rojava] alongside Arabs, Syriacs, and other peoples throughout Syria,” the bloc said.
The Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES) governs Rojava as a decentralized, multi-ethnic civil administration overseeing local governance, security, and public services.
An internationally mediated ceasefire came into effect on Sunday. Despite this, videos circulated online showing Damascus-affiliated militants rounding up, arresting, and verbally abusing Kurdish civilians. Social media users have also shared images and videos of relatives who they say have gone missing since the violence began.
Deadly clashes erupted last week in Aleppo’s Kurdish neighborhoods after the Syrian Arab Army and its allied armed factions launched a large-scale operation to seize Ashrafiyeh and Sheikh Maqsood from the Kurdish Internal Security Forces (Asayish).
The violence left at least 82 people dead, including 43 civilians, according to a Sunday report by the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), and displaced approximately 150,000 others, the Erbil-based Barzani Charity Foundation (BCF) told Rudaw on Saturday.
In a statement, the KCK said the attack followed meetings involving the US, Israel, and Syria, and coincided with what it described as an agreement to cede southern Damascus to Tel Aviv. The bloc claimed this indicates that “the approval of the US and international powers in the region was obtained, or that their silence was ensured.”
Damascus and Tel Aviv resumed negotiations last week after a four-month pause in Washington-mediated talks aimed at de-escalating tensions along their shared border. Syrian state media confirmed that the talks involved senior diplomatic and intelligence officials and noted that they addressed the establishment of a coordination cell between the two sides.
“The attacks on Kurdish neighborhoods in Aleppo and the approach and attitude of state officials toward our party constitute an attempt to sabotage the peace and democratic society process,” the statement read, referring to ongoing peace efforts between Ankara and the now-dissolved Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) - which rebranded as the Kurdistan Freedom Movement in May and formerly spearheaded the KCK.
The KCK further noted that the attacks on Ashrafiyeh and Sheikh Maqsood were aimed to “de-kurdify them” and were driven by “anti-Kurdish sentiment” and “aim to dismantle the autonomous democratic system established by the Kurdish people [in northeast Syria - Rojava] alongside Arabs, Syriacs, and other peoples throughout Syria,” the bloc said.
The Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES) governs Rojava as a decentralized, multi-ethnic civil administration overseeing local governance, security, and public services.
An internationally mediated ceasefire came into effect on Sunday. Despite this, videos circulated online showing Damascus-affiliated militants rounding up, arresting, and verbally abusing Kurdish civilians. Social media users have also shared images and videos of relatives who they say have gone missing since the violence began.