The twenty-first century’s worst humanitarian and military crisis has reached a historic turning point. This weekend, Syrians rejoiced after Bashar al-Assad was finally toppled in a shock reversal spearheaded by al-Qaeda offshoot Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). The region’s Kurds joined the celebrations, flooding into formerly Assadist-held areas and tearing down statues of the hated dictator. But like all Syrians, the Kurds have suffered enough turmoil during the past thirteen years of mass violence, displacement, proxy warfare, and ethnic cleansing to know the path toward peace remains long and hard.
When Turkey displaced two hundred thousand Syrian Kurdish civilians in a 2018 cross-border operation, many locals remained as close as possible to their bombed-out homes, now occupied by a ragtag collection of Sunni Arab and Turkmen militias. Tens of thousands stayed clinging to hopes of return in scattered, scarcely defended camps in the neighboring Shehba (Tel Rifaat) region, weathering Turkish shells. But as HTS launched the ten-day offensive that culminated in Assad’s overthrow, Turkey and its militias took advantage, seizing even these windblown refugee camps and displacing their residents once again. Hussein Maamo, an official Syrian Kurdish representative stationed in London, tells Jacobin: “The Turkey-linked factions aim to legitimize their assaults on Kurdish areas, framing their attacks as attacks against regime forces.”
Muhammed Sheikho, who is cochair of a regional council under the Kurdish-led Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES), led thousands of Kurds, Arabs, and local minorities out of the camps to safety in distant regions under DAANES control. But more were left behind. “Hundreds of our…
Auteur: Matt Broomfield
