Tag: Kurds

There are several ways to romanize Deir ez-Zor, a city on the Euphrates River in eastern Syria. It’s in the news right now for a couple of reasons. The first is that one of its citizens, Syrian activist Mazen Al-Hamada, was found tortured to death in the Harasta military hospital in the Damascus suburbs, and he received a well-publicized and attended funeral on Thursday where he was praised as a hero of the revolution.

Al-Hamada was part of the early anti-Assad protests in 2011 in Deir ez-Zor, and he was detained and tortured twice before gaining asylum in the Netherlands. From there, he became an outspoken critic of the Assad regime and advocate for political prisoners. Sadly, he was lured back to Syria with the promise of the release of some prisoners only to be detained at the airport and disappeared until his badly ravaged body was found several days ago.

The city of his birth has an interesting and troubled history. The Ottomans churned through governors of the region and during the late stages of their rule, it was the end point for Armenian deportations, and tens of thousands of Armenians were murdered there. After World War One, it was first occupied by the British and then by the French, both of which were forced out by insurgencies. During the Syrian Civil War, it was held for a time by ISIS, and then by the regime, and finally by the Kurds.

The Middle East Monitor reported on Wednesday that the Kurds have fled the city and are being attacked on the outskirts by the same Turkey-backed  Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham forces that drove Assad from power.

Syria’s new government has announced the liberation of Deir ez-Zor city from Kurdish militias in the eastern province, as the former opposition continues to capture more territory throughout the country.

According to a telegram post by Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham’s (HTS) Directorate of Military Operations, Commander Hassan Abdul Ghani stated that “our fighters continue to advance in the districts and settlements of Deir ez-Zor province after taking control of the city centre, as well as the western and eastern countryside”.

Earlier this week, the late Deir ez-Zor Military Council – formerly part of the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces’ (SDF) coalition in that eastern province – dramatically abandoned the SDF, announcing its departure from its ranks.

Unrest by local Syrians in Deir ez-Zor then pushed the Kurdish militias out of the main city, with the SDF deciding to withdraw from the area. That consequently made way for the new Syrian HTS-led interim government to move into the city, announcing its liberation from years of being held by the SDF and being fought over by various factions.

Following those developments, HTS-led security forces are reported to currently be carrying out an offensive against the SDF in other areas and the countryside of Deir ez-Zor province, in events which appear to be the result of the new Syrian government’s aim to capture and unify the entirety of the country.

In the north and north-east of Syria, where the heartland of the Syrian Kurdish militias lies, the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) has also been advancing against Kurdish positions.

It’s clear that the remote city has an ornery population that resists rule by outsiders. It’s mostly Sunni Arab, with a sizable Armenian remnant, so it’s not surprising they were eager to be rid of both the Alawite regime and occupation by the Kurds.

Yet, even as the Kurds are pressed back to their traditional homeland by forces of the new government, they are trying to be conciliatory.

The semi-autonomous Kurdish administration that holds swathes of Syria’s northeast said today that it will adopt the three-starred independence flag used by the opposition, after rebels toppled longtime president Bashar al-Assad.

The Kurdish authority said in a statement it has “decided to raise the Syrian [independence] flag on all councils, institutions, administrations and facilities affiliated with the Autonomous Administration,” describing the flag as a “symbol of this new stage, as it expresses the aspirations of the Syrian people towards freedom, dignity and national unity.”

Yet, they are still under attack. I tell this story primarily to demonstrate how complicated and difficult it is to understand the dynamics and history of Syria, and what this might mean for predicting and navigating the future.

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