Syrian Kurdish groups on the back foot as power balance shifts

Syrian Kurdish groups on the back foot as power balance shifts
Giant independence-era Syrian flags hang on the facade of a building in Syria’s northern city of Manbij on December 21, 2024. Islamist-led rebels took Damascus in a lightning offensive on December 8, ousting president Bashar Assad and ending five decades of Baath rule in Syria. (AFP)
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Updated 22 December 2024
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Syrian Kurdish groups on the back foot as power balance shifts

Syrian Kurdish groups on the back foot as power balance shifts
  • Syrian Kurds established autonomy early in civil war, Turkiye views their main group as national security threat
  • Syrian Kurdish leader asks Trump to prevent Turkish incursion

QAMISHLI: With hostile Turkish-backed groups mobilizing against them in Syria’s north, and Damascus ruled by a group friendly to Ankara, Syria’s main Kurdish factions are on the back foot as they seek to preserve political gains carved out during 13 years of war.
Part of a stateless ethnic group straddling Iraq, Iran, Turkiye, Armenia and Syria, Kurds have so far been among the few winners of the Syrian conflict, controlling nearly a quarter of the country and leading a powerful armed group that is a key US ally in countering Islamic State.
But the power balance has tilted against them since the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) swept into Damascus this month, toppling President Bashar Assad, two analysts and a senior Western diplomat told Reuters.
The seismic change in Syria is expected to yield deeper Turkish sway just as a change of US administration is raising questions over how long Washington will keep backing the country’s Kurdish-led forces.
For Turkiye, the Kurdish factions represent a national security threat. Ankara views them as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 and is deemed a terrorist group by Turkiye, the United States and other powers.
The Syrian Kurdish groups “are in deep, deep trouble,” said Aron Lund, a fellow at Century International, a US-based think tank.
“The balance has shifted fundamentally in Syria to the advantage of Turkiye-backed or Turkiye-aligned factions, and Turkiye seems determined to exploit this to the fullest.”
The shift has been reflected in renewed fighting for control of the north, where Turkiye-backed armed groups known as the Syrian National Army (SNA) have made military advances against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Fanar Al-Kait, a senior official in the Kurdish-led regional administration, told Reuters that the ouster of Assad, whose Arab nationalist Baath Party oppressed Kurds for decades, presented a chance to stitch the fragmented country back together.
He said the administration is ready for dialogue with Turkiye, but the conflict in the north showed Ankara had “very bad intentions.”
“This will certainly push the region toward ... a new conflict,” he added.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday he expected foreign states would withdraw support for Kurdish fighters following Assad’s toppling, as Ankara seeks to isolate the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the Kurdish militia that spearheaded the SDF alliance.
Responding to questions from Reuters, a Turkish official said the root cause of the conflict is “not Turkiye’s view toward the region; it is that the PKK/YPG is a terrorist organization.”
“The PKK/YPG elements must lay down their arms and leave Syria,” the official said.
SDF commander Mazloum Abdi, in a Reuters interview on Thursday, acknowledged the presence of PKK fighters in Syria for the first time, saying they had helped battle Islamic State and would return home in the event a total ceasefire was agreed with Turkiye. He denied any organizational ties with the PKK.
Feminism and Islamism
Meanwhile, in Damascus, the new leadership is showing warmth toward Ankara and indicating it wants to bring all Syria back under central authority — a potential challenge to the decentralization Kurds favor.
While Turkiye provides direct backing to the SNA, it along with other states deems HTS a terrorist group because of its Al-Qaeda past.
Despite this, Ankara is believed to have significant sway over the group. A senior Western diplomat said: “The Turks can clearly influence them more than anyone else.”
HTS leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa told a Turkish newspaper that Assad’s ouster was “not only the victory of the Syrian people, but also the Turkish people.”
The Turkish official said HTS was not and never had been under Ankara’s control, calling it a structure “we were communicating with due to circumstances” and adding many Western states were also doing so.
Syrian Kurdish groups led by the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and the affiliated YPG militia took control of much of the north after the uprising against Assad began in 2011. They established their own administration, while insisting their aim was autonomy, not independence.
Their politics, emphasising socialism and feminism, differ starkly from HTS’ Islamism.
Their area grew as US-led forces partnered with the SDF in the campaign against Islamic State, capturing Arab-majority areas.
The Turkiye-backed SNA groups stepped up their campaign against the SDF as Assad was being toppled, seizing the city of Manbij on Dec. 9
Washington brokered a ceasefire, but the SDF has said Turkiye and its allies have not abided by it, and a Turkish defense ministry official said there was no such deal.
US support for the SDF has been a point of tension with its NATO ally, Turkiye. Washington views the SDF as a key partner in countering Islamic State, which Secretary of State Antony Blinken has warned will try to use this period to re-establish capabilities in Syria. The SDF is still guarding tens of thousands of detainees linked to the militant group.
Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler said last weekend that Turkiye saw no sign of a Daesh resurgence in Syria. On Friday, Turkiye’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, told his German counterpart during talks in Ankara that alternatives needed to be found for the management of camps and prisons where the detainees are being held.
Separately, US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf said on Friday that Washington was working with Ankara and the SDF to find “a managed transition in terms of SDF’s role in that part of the country.”
President Joe Biden’s administration has said that US troops will stay on in Syria, but President-elect Donald Trump could remove them when he takes office on Jan. 20.
Letter to Trump
During his first administration, Trump attempted to pull out of Syria but faced pressure at home and from US allies.
In a Dec. 17 letter to Trump, reviewed by Reuters, top Syrian Kurdish official Ilham Ahmed said Turkiye was preparing to invade the northeast before he takes office.
Turkiye’s plan “threatens to undo years of progress in securing stability and fighting terrorism,” she wrote. “We believe you have the power to prevent this catastrophe.”
Asked for comment, Trump-Vance transition spokesman Brian Hughes said: “We continue to monitor the situation in Syria. President Trump is committed to diminishing threats to peace and stability in the Middle East and to protecting Americans here at home.”
Trump said on Dec. 16 that Turkiye will “hold the key” to what happens in Syria but has not announced his plans for US forces stationed there.
“The Kurds are in an unenviable position,” said Joshua Landis, a Syria expert at the University of Oklahoma. “Once Damascus consolidates its power, it will move on the region. The US can’t remain there forever.”
HTS leader Sharaa told British broadcaster the BBC that Kurds were “part of our people” and “there should be no division of Syria,” adding arms should be entirely in the state’s hands.
Sharaa acknowledged one of Turkiye’s main concerns — the presence of non-Syrian Kurdish fighters in Syria — and said: “We do not accept that Syrian lands threaten and destabilize Turkiye or other places.”
He pledged to work through dialogue and negotiations to find “a peaceful formula to solve the problem,” saying he believed initial contacts had been established “between the Kurds in northeastern Syria or the SDF organization.”
Kait, the Kurdish official, said his administration wanted “a democratic Syria, a decentralized Syria, a Syria that represents all Syrians of all sects, religions and ethnicities,” describing these as red lines. The SDF would be “a nucleus of the coming Syrian army,” he added.
SDF commander Abdi, in his Reuters interview, confirmed that contact had been established with HTS to avoid clashes between their forces but said Ankara would try to drive a wedge between Damascus and the Kurdish-led administration.
Still, he said there was strong support from international parties, including the US-led coalition, for the SDF joining “the new political phase” in Damascus, calling it “a great opportunity.”
“We are preparing, after a total ceasefire between us and between Turkiye and the affiliated factions, to join this phase,” he said.


Syria seizes millions of captagon pills

Syria seizes millions of captagon pills
Updated 4 sec ago
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Syria seizes millions of captagon pills

Syria seizes millions of captagon pills
  • Interior ministry said pills had been “professionally hidden inside 5,000 metal bars”

DAMASCUS: Syrian authorities on Saturday announced the seizure of around four million pills of the illegal drug captagon that had been readied for export through the port of Latakia.
The interior ministry said the pills had been “professionally hidden inside 5,000 metal bars” and were seized from warehouses at the port.
“The pills were seized and the necessary legal procedures have begun,” the ministry’s anti-narcotics department posted on Telegram.
Latakia is in the coastal heartland of deposed president Bashar Assad’s Alawite minority.
Under his rule, captagon became Syria’s largest export during the civil war that began in 2011.
Following Assad’s ouster last December, the new authorities discovered millions of captagon pills in warehouses and on military bases.

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Israel says intercepts drone claimed by Houthis

Israel says intercepts drone claimed by Houthis
Updated 25 min 22 sec ago
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Israel says intercepts drone claimed by Houthis

Israel says intercepts drone claimed by Houthis
  • Since the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas erupted in October 2023, the Houthis have repeatedly launched drone and missile attacks at Israel

JERUSALEM: Israel’s military said Friday it had intercepted an incoming UAV while a military source in Jordan said another drone had crashed there, as Iran-backed Houthis claimed the attacks.
“A short while ago, a UAV (drone) that was on its way to Israeli territory from the east was intercepted by the IAF (Israeli air force),” the Israeli military said in a statement, without elaborating.
Since the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas erupted in October 2023, the Houthis have repeatedly launched drone and missile attacks at Israel, many of which have been intercepted before entering Israeli airspace.
The Houthi militia in Yemen, claiming to be acting in solidarity with the Palestinians, stated on their official website that they had launched two drones “targeting two Israeli military targets in the occupied Jaffa area” south of Tel Aviv.
The Houthis “assure to the oppressed Palestinian people that they are committed to their pledge of support and assistance, will not retreat, and will not stop,” the statement said.
In Israel’s eastern neighbor Jordan, several media outlets reported that Israel’s military had intercepted a Yemeni drone over the Dead Sea.
A Jordanian military source said an unidentified drone breached the country’s airspace and crashed in the Ma’in area of Madaba Governorate, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) southwest of the capital Amman.
No casualties were reported, but falling debris ignited a fire in the wooded area where it came down.
Jordanian military personnel and civil defense teams extinguished the blaze.
Besides the Houthis, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, another pro-Iran group, has also claimed being behind a number of attacks targeting Israel since the Gaza war began.


Iraqi markets a haven for pedlars escaping Iran’s economic woes

Iraqi markets a haven for pedlars escaping Iran’s economic woes
Updated 12 April 2025
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Iraqi markets a haven for pedlars escaping Iran’s economic woes

Iraqi markets a haven for pedlars escaping Iran’s economic woes
  • Iran wields considerable political influence in Iraq and is a major trade partner for the country, the second-largest importer of non-oil Iranian goods

Basra: Every Friday, Alawi crosses the border from Iran into Iraq to sell his produce in the markets of Basra, which serve as a haven for Iranians grappling with economic sanctions.
He is just one of many Iranian pedlars who endure the arduous journey into southern Iraq through the Chalamja border crossing.
They bring essential goods such as chicken, eggs, cooking oil and household items to sell at low prices, hoping for a profit that would be unimaginable back home due to sharp currency depreciation and soaring inflation.
“The situation is difficult due to the embargo,” Alawi said, referring to Western sanctions against Iran.
Asking to withhold his surname for fear of repercussions back home, the 36-year-old said he had not given up easily on his country, and had tried to sell his produce in a market there.
“There were no customers, and the products would spoil, so we had to throw them away and end up losing” money, he told AFP.
Instead, for the past seven years, he has been traveling to Iraq where he sells okra in summer and dates in winter, earning between $30 and $50 a day — much more than he could make at home.
“When we exchange Iraqi money” for Iranian rials, “it’s a lot,” the father of two said.
“We can spend it in five days or even a week,” he added.
'A lifeline'
After a brief period of relief from sanctions in exchange for curbs on Iran’s nuclear program, US President Donald Trump reimposed the biting measures during his first term in 2018.
Ever since, the value of the Iranian rial has plunged, fueling high inflation and unemployment.
Prices soared last month by more than 32 percent compared to March the previous year, according to official figures.
Trump announced this week that his administration would restart negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, with talks to take place in Oman on Saturday.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said his country’s chief aim is for US sanctions to be lifted.
In the meantime, Basra’s markets continue to bustle with Iranian vendors.
At the Friday market, bags of rice were stacked on plastic crates next to bottles of detergent.
While some vendors chatted with customers, others dozed off beside their shopping bags, rubbing off the weariness of a long journey.
Hayder Al-Shakeri of the London-based Chatham House think-tank’s Middle East and North Africa program said informal cross-border trade “has expanded significantly over the past decade as sanctions on Iran have increasingly impacted everyday life.”
Basra’s proximity to Iran’s Khuzestan province, where many residents speak Arabic and share cultural values with Iraq, makes it a primary target for mostly working-class Iranian vendors, Shakeri said.
Among them are women and elderly men whose livelihoods have been severely impacted by inflation, he said, calling the cross-border trade “a vital lifeline.”
“Earning in more stable currencies like the Iraqi dinar or even US dollars provides a financial buffer” against the devaluated rial, he added.
Better and cheaper
Iran wields considerable political influence in Iraq and is a major trade partner for the country, the second-largest importer of non-oil Iranian goods.
Trade between the two countries amounts to tens of billions of dollars.
Milad, 17, and his mother have been selling household essentials in Basra for the past two years. Fearing a worsening situation back home, they recently rented a small shop.
In Iran, “finding work is hard, and the currency is weak,” said curly-haired Milad, who declined to give his last name, adding that his cousin has been looking for a job since he graduated.
Iraqi maths professor Abu Ahmad, 55, strolls to the market every Friday, looking for fresh Iranian goods.
“Their geymar is better than ours,” he said, referring to the cream Iraqis have with honey for breakfast.
It is also cheaper.
“They sell it for 12,000 dinars ($8)” compared to an Iraqi price of 16,000, he added.
Shakeri from Chatham House warned that local vendors “resent the competition,” and Iraqi security forces sometimes remove Iranians, though they know they will eventually return.
Umm Mansur, a 47-year-old Iranian mother of five, has had a bitter experience since she joined other pedlars six months ago.
At the border, “they insult and mistreat us,” she said.
Other pedlars have described similar experiences, saying they were held up for hours at the crossing.
Umm Mansur said she is willing to overlook the mistreatment to earn four times what she would at home.
“In Iran, there is no way to make a living,” she said.


Sudan paramilitaries kill 57 in Darfur attacks

Sudan paramilitaries kill 57 in Darfur attacks
Updated 12 April 2025
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Sudan paramilitaries kill 57 in Darfur attacks

Sudan paramilitaries kill 57 in Darfur attacks
  • RSF fighters attacked Zamzam displacement camp around El-Fasher, killing 25 civilians, including women, children and elderly residents,
  • UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk warned on Friday of deeply catastrophic consequences for civilians as the conflict approaches its third year.

Port Sudan: Paramilitaries killed 57 civilians Friday in an attack on North Darfur’s besieged capital El-Fasher and a nearby famine-hit camp, activists said, as the battle to control Sudan’s west intensifies.
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), at war with the army since April 2023, launched a major assault on El-Fasher using heavy artillery, sniper fire and suicide drones from the east and northeast, said the local resistance committee, a volunteer aid group.
“By 5:00 p.m. (local time), 32 people had been killed in the city, including four women and 10 children aged between one and five,” the group said, adding that at least 17 others were wounded and taken to hospital.
Earlier, RSF fighters attacked Zamzam displacement camp around El-Fasher, killing 25 civilians, including women, children and elderly residents, the local committee said.
Zamzam, along with other densely populated camps for the displaced around El-Fasher, has suffered heavily during nearly two years of fighting.
El-Fasher is the only state capital still under army control in Darfur, making it a strategic prize in the RSF’s push for full control of the west.
Witnesses described seeing RSF combat vehicles entering the Zamzam camp under cover of heavy gunfire.
’Destructive path’
Friday’s assault followed RSF shelling Thursday of Abu Shouk camp, also near El-Fasher, that left at least 15 people dead and 25 wounded, rescuers said.
Three El-Fasher residents told AFP that the RSF attacked the city on Friday from the east, south and west, after bombarding it with heavy artillery and rockets.
They spoke on condition of anonymity out of concern for their own safety.
Drones were also seen attacking central El-Fasher, witnesses said.
The paramilitaries have stepped up efforts to complete their conquest of Darfur since losing control of the capital Khartoum last month.
Zamzam was the first part of Sudan where a UN-backed assessment declared famine last year.
In December, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification said famine had since spread to two nearby camps — Abu Shouk and Al Salam — as well as to parts of the country’s south.
The war between army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, erupted in April 2023.
The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 12 million.
While the army recaptured Khartoum late last month, Africa’s third-largest country remains divided.
The army holds sway in the east and north, while the RSF controls most of Darfur and parts of the south.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk warned on Friday of deeply catastrophic consequences for civilians as the conflict approaches its third year.
“Two years of this brutal and senseless conflict must be a wake-up call to the parties to lay down their weapons and for the international community to act,” he said.
“Sudan must not remain on this destructive path.”


Most Hezbollah military sites ceded to army in south Lebanon: source

Most Hezbollah military sites ceded to army in south Lebanon: source
Updated 12 April 2025
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Most Hezbollah military sites ceded to army in south Lebanon: source

Most Hezbollah military sites ceded to army in south Lebanon: source
  • Israel has continued to strike what it says are Hezbollah infrastructure or members of the group in Lebanon
  • Months of cross-border exchanges with Israeli forces degenerated into full-blown war last September, leaving Hezbollah severely weakened

Beirut: Most military sites belonging to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon have been placed under Lebanese army control, a source close to the group said on Saturday.
A November 27 ceasefire that ended more than a year of conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, including two months of full-blown war, stipulated that only United Nations peacekeepers and Lebanon’s army should be deployed in the country’s south.
The deal required the Iran-backed militant group to dismantle its remaining military infrastructure in the south and move its fighters north of the Litani River, which is about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the Israeli border.
“Out of 265 Hezbollah military positions identified south of the Litani, the movement has ceded about 190 to the army,” the source said on condition of anonymity.
Under the ceasefire, Israel was to complete its troop withdrawal from Lebanon by February 18 after missing a January deadline, but it has kept troops in five places it deems strategic.
Israel has continued to strike what it says are Hezbollah infrastructure or members of the group in Lebanon.
The United States deputy special envoy for the Middle East, Morgan Ortagus, discussed disarming Hezbollah with senior Lebanese figures during her visit to the country a week ago, a Lebanese official said.
In an interview with Lebanese television channel LBCI, Ortagus said that “we continue to press on this government to fully fulfill the cessation of hostilities, and that includes disarming Hezbollah and all militias.”
She said it should happen “as soon as possible.”
The United States chairs a committee, which also includes France, tasked with overseeing the ceasefire.
Following the attack against Israel by Hamas militants from Gaza in October 2023, Hezbollah began firing into northern Israel in support of the Palestinians.
Months of cross-border exchanges with Israeli forces degenerated into full-blown war last September, leaving Hezbollah severely weakened.
According to Lebanese authorities, more than 4,000 people were killed in the hostilities.