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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Hundreds of Kurdish protesters gathered outside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office on Tuesday, calling on the UK to take action against the Syrian military’s offensive on Kurdish-held areas in northeast Syria (Rojava).
Demonstrators demanded that the UK pressure the Syrian interim government to halt its operations against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
A protester said, “We fought on behalf of the world. We defeated Daesh - Islamic State [ISIS] - on behalf of the entire world. If today’s war is against the Kurds, tomorrow it will reach Britain. If nothing is done to help the Kurds, ISIS will arrive here tomorrow.”
The SDF, which serves as Rojava’s de facto military force, played a decisive role in defeating ISIS in Syria in 2019 and was the sole on-the-ground partner of the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS until Syria joined in November.
Another protester added, “Enough of killing the Kurds. The Peshmerga and other [Kurdish] fighters defeated ISIS on behalf of the entire world. If the world turns its back on us, old and new terrorists will return.”
The escalation in Rojava came less than 24 hours after Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa reached an agreement with SDF chief Mazloum Abdi to “immediately” halt violence and bring SDF-administered areas under state control.
Abdi traveled to Damascus on Monday for talks with Sharaa, but a senior official from the Kurdish-led administration told Rudaw that the meeting was not positive.
Fighting continued through Tuesday until the Syrian government announced it had reached “a mutual understanding” with the SDF on several issues concerning the future of the Kurdish-majority Hasaka province, according to Syrian state media.
The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) quoted the Syrian presidency as confirming that “a mutual understanding has been reached between the Syrian government and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on a number of issues concerning the future of Hasaka province.”
The agreement comes after a mid-January military operation launched by the Syrian Arab Army and allied armed groups, aimed at taking control of SDF-held areas. The offensive initially targeted regions east of Aleppo, then expanded to Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor, and most recently focused on Hasaka.
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