The Battle of the Kurds in Syria months after the fall of Assad

To reach northeastern Syria, we cross a dilapidated floating bridge over the Tigris River. The small bus disturbed us because it takes us from Iraqi Kurdistan through the Syrian oil fields, where the cranes pump crude oil on the roads.

This part of Syria is controlled by the Kurds, who are called Rojava – meaning western Kurdistan. Since 2012, after the outbreak of the civil war, they have operated it as a self -government area, protected by the Kurdish armed forces.

But the regime of Bashar al -Assad has never recognized it, and despite its fall from power, its future is still not certain.

In addition to more than a decade of civil war, the Syrian Kurds faced years of conflict with its northern neighbor, Türkiye – a battle that is still fighting.

A decade ago, the Islamic State Group (IS) swept this region, as it seized cities and villages with a little resistance – until it reached the city of Koban, next to the Turkish border, in September 2014.

The militants were unable to enter the city, but they imposed a brutal siege that lasted for several months.

The Kurdish factions led by, with the support of the US -led military coalition, broke the siege in early 2015. In January, I joined the city’s residents where they represent the tenth anniversary.

At the entrance to Koban, women are guarded in their fifties, armed with AK-47 offensive rifles, checkpoints. Women played a decisive role in fighting the battle – many have volunteered in women’s protection units in all females (YPJ).

While we walk throughout the city, the war scars are still visible, along with the posters of youth and women who lost their lives.

But in the main square, the mood is festive. Little girls and boys wear colored Kurdish clothes dancing side by side, singing while celebrating them.

For the oldest generation, it is a sweet moment and bitter. “Last night, the candles of the martyrs and others were killed in two cups,” says Neroz Ahmed, a 45 -year -old mother. “It is a happy day, but it is also painful. I hope it is here to see it.”

The Syrian Democratic Forces led by the Kurdish (SDF) announced that victory is more in northeastern Syria in 2019. But liberation from IS did not bring permanent peace.

Turkey and the coalition of rebel groups backed by Turkish known as the Syrian National Army (SNA) have launched several military operations against SDF lands since 2016, and seized a group of lands that have passed along hundreds of kilometers from the border.

Türkiye is the largest component of SDF – YPG units – an extension of the Kurdistan Labor Party (PKK), which fought for Kurdish rights in Turkey for decades, and has been included by Ankara as a terrorist organization. The country wants to push SDF back from its borders.

With the collapse of the Assad regime in late 2024, Turkish -backed SNA launched a new attack to capture the lands of the west of the Euphrates from the SDF.

Now the battles have reached areas near Koban. A Kurdish leader in the city quietly tells me: “Do not imagine here, we have built tunnels under the city to prepare for another siege.”

In the city, the smell of gasoline fills the air, and the sound of deaf generators can be heard everywhere. Local residents told me that most of the power plants, refineries, and even communications antennas have been destroyed due to Turkish air strikes over the past two years.

Neroz Ahmed says that a “defeat” in two cups … We will not allow Turkey and agents to operate our city, and we will also defeat them.

In one of the restaurants, the moment people realize that we are not local, they surround us. I ask an old man with gray hair and a stick in his hands how old is. I think he is about 80 years old, but the answer he gives embarrass me. “I am 60 years old,” he says.

It is clear that the people here were exhausted by the war, after they witnessed a lot of death and bloodshed.

Now the threat of another battle waving on the horizon.

Turkish drones and Turkish aircraft targeted SDF positions and supplies throughout the city. Even civilians who protest have been hit.

In a regional hospital, I find one of the wounded-Walla Bonns, a 28-year-old German peace activist who was volunteering in a women’s shelter in Rojava for more than two years.

It shows me a video of an attack on a demonstration that it was part of it in January. The footage shows two projectiles that fall from the sky and hit a crowd of people dance.

The protest was held near the strategic Tishreen Dam, where the fighting was continuing. SDF says six civilians were killed, and dozens were injured.

“An old man was also wounded next to me,” she told me from her bed.

“I lost some blood … but when we got to the ambulance, another drone attack was carried out next to our ambulance,” she added.

Human Rights Watch condemned an attack that hit the Kurdish Red Crescent ambulance as a “clear war crime” by the Turkish coalition SNNA.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry told the BBC that “reports claiming that Turkey is involved in attacks against civilians and critical infrastructure does not reflect the truth,” adding that SDF sends civilians to a “region that suffers from” intentionally “to use” as “human energy … in order not to control the aforementioned dam.”

SDF was accused of using “violence and terrorism” to follow up on its “separatist agenda”, and the ceasefire and the stopping of technical teams were dismissed from reaching the dam for reform.

The new leader of Syria, Ahmed Al -Sharra, is stuck between a rock and a difficult place.

The temporary president – whose Islamic group, HTS Al -Sham (HTS) led the rebels’ attack that Assad toppled him – promised to form a comprehensive government in Damascus, and he asked all armed factions to set their weapons. Negotiations are said to be held with SDF to find a solution to the northeast.

But the inclusion of the Kurdish factions puts Shara in a difficult situation with one of his main allies – Türkiye.

When Shara opened a conference for the national dialogue on the future of Syria on Tuesday, the Kurdish independent administration was absent – it said it was not invited.

Speaking to me from a secret site near an American base in a Hasse district in the northeast of Syria, the Commander of the General Defense Forces General General Meshlum Abd told me that he had met Shara in Damascus before.

But the two sides did not reach an agreement.

“In fact, we are still in war with Turkey and its entirety. Turkish aircraft and drones continue to bomb”, adding: “In Damascus, it is still not clear the steps that the new government will take. Its statements are positive, but they are under pressure from Türkiye to act against the areas under our control.

“But the United States, France and some Arab countries lead them to recognize Kurdish rights,” he says.

For the United States, the SDF fighters were the most reliable battle against the battle against.

Today, hundreds of American forces remain in Kurdish -controlled areas, to confront sleeping cells.

But the Kurds are now afraid that President Donald Trump may withdraw these forces, leaving the area vulnerable to any Turkish military operation and the possibility.

It is estimated that there are still about 40,000 family members and up to 10,000 jihadist fighters detained in the SDF camps and prisons in the northeast.

“If he attacks Türkiye, we will have no choice but to redirect our forces,” he warns. “This would give an opportunity to attack prisons and free its fighters.”

There is more uncertainty for women who have fought in the ranks of female YPJ.

The walls of the 29 -year -old YPJ spokesman Roxanna Muhammad are covered with pictures of a colleague of leaders who were killed in the battle.

“So far, we have not seen any roles given to women in the new Damascus leadership,” she says. “Why should she not be a woman minister?”

Mrs. Mohamed says that women fought for their rights in this region. They actively participated in every aspect of political, social and military life.

“If our rights are not respected, how can we put our arms?” You ask.

So, while some believe that stability in Syria on the horizon, for the Kurds, the future is still unclear. Will they be recognized as partners in a new Syria, or facing another existential battle?