#NewsFromTheFront
Weekly update from your anarchist comrades in #NES
02.02.25-08.02.25

Also available on https://tekosinaanarsist.noblogs.org/category/war-updates/

Weekly highlights - 02.02.25 - 08.02.25

# MANBIJ CAR BOMB AND KOBANE WITHOUT WATER
Another car bomb detonated in Manbij killing 21 people, mostly women. SNA blames SDF, but SDF denies it and attributes it to SNA factions. SDF condemned the attack and called for an investigation, offering support to find the perpetrators.
Heavy clashes between SNA and SDF continued, with constant bombings of turkish air force on positions near Tishreen dam and Qereqozah bridge.
Turkish attacks rendered the main water station of Kobane out of order, leaving more than 200,000 people without drinking water. DAANES calls for international human rights organizations to condemn the attacks, calling it a war crime.

# US MAKING PLANS FOR WITHDRAWAL
With President Trump in office, the Department of Defense (DOD) is drafting plans for a possible withdrawal of all 2000 US troops on Syrian ground. Several proposals are being drafted, considering different time schemes of 20, 60, and 90 days. Pentagon officials stated that for now there is no order to evacuate, but that their work is to have plans for any possible situation.

# SYRIAN-TURKISH 'DEEP STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP'
Following a visit of Al-Sharaa in Ankara, both presidents vowed to establish a close partnership. Al-Sharaa emphasized pressure of Israeli withdrawal, Erdogan cooperation on combating terrorism and pushing back on PKK in Syria. Announcements of a formal defense pact are not officially made yet, but there are clear indicators of Turkey willing to make us of air bases in Syria, as well as offering military support to rebuild a new Syrian army. This will include retaining influence on SNA forces that are expected to joint the new Syrian army.

# NEW DEPLOYMENTS OF HTS IN SNA AREAS
The military operations command, linked to the transitional government of HTS, increased it's deployment of forces in SNA controlled areas. This followed the announcement of SNA joining the new Syrian army, as well as the promotion of several commanders of SNA to high ranks. Among those promoted there is Abu Amsha, leader of the joint forces (hamza and Suleiman Shah brigades), who was behind the assassination of the kurdish polititian Hevrin Xalef in 2019.

# NEW AIR RAIDS OF ISRAEL AND UN ASSESSMENT
UN delegation arrived to Quneitra region to asses the situation after Israel forces organized a partial withrawal from the region. Israel air forces also re-started bombing campaigns, targeting different locations around Damascus, declaring that those are attacks directed to Hamas and weapons that Hamas may use against Israel.

# COMMON DELEGATION PYD-ENKS
ENKS, political organization connected to KDP in Rojava, announced their intentions to have a common delegation with PYD to Damascus, with the objective to negotiate the political status of the kurdish regions of northern Syria. ENKS stated that rejects any proposals of autonomy for north-east Syria and calls for a federal model.

# NEGOTIATIONS AND NEW POLITICAL COUNCIL IN SUWAYDA
Political, military and religious entities created a new council together, pledging to “fill the political void, unify perspectives, and mobilize efforts in line with the evolving needs of Syrians in the upcoming phase.” The transitional government sent a delegation and held meetings with druze authorities, negotiating the process of integration of druze armed forces in the new Syrian army, allegedly in exchange of some political benefits, but seems no definite agreement has been reached yet.

# EXPECTATION FOR THE MESSAGE FROM ÖCALAN
According to DEM-Party, Öcalan prepares historic call for the February 15th, the day that will make 26 years of his imprisonment.

# PEOPLE'S TRIBUNAL ON ROJAVA VS. TURKEY
At the Free University of Brussels, jurists, human rights activists, affected people and witnesses take part in the 2-day event to investigate and publicize the human right violations in NES. Turkey declined the invitation.

# ANALYSIS

Now it's two months since Bashar al-Assad left Syria, marking the collapse of the regime and the beginning of a new phase for Syria. Since then, HTS had been gradually taking more and more control of the state apparatus, culminating with the self-proclamation of al-Sharaa as president of Syria. The provisional government, originally announced for three months, legitimized it's authority with a staged "victory congress" where only military commanders could assist, announcing now a period of 4 or 5 years before any elections can take place in Syria. Western support for the new regime kept the press away from calling it a military coup, but it is clearly what happened. This new administration counts with full support of the Turkish state, undermining any constructive agreement with the DAANES to joint efforts and build a democratic Syria.

Negotiations between the new administration in Damascus and the SDF continue, but it is clear that any agreement is out of reach, specially after SNA forces (turkish proxies) are being promoted inside the ranks of the new Syrian army. With Trump on the white house and his calls for US forces to withdraw, the future of the autonomous administration is very uncertain. Other minorities in Syria are slowly being bent under the authority of the new centralized rule, as international states support and assist the new government to establish its power. Any dreams of democratization and revolutionary steps for Syria fade away, as the new administration gets integrated into the ranks of capitalist nation-states.

The imperialist influence that Russia and Iran had over the Assad regime are being exchanged for the imperialist influence of Turkish neo-otoman dreams, with support of Turkish NATO partners of western countries. The islamic fundamentalist politics of the self-proclaimed president of Syria are now kept hidden, waiting to consolidate their power grip before to start any moves that could scare their newly acquired western partners. The promises of protection for ethnic minorities and women rights probably will last until economical sanctions are lifted, but after that nothing will remain between the new centralized state and any resistance against their authoritarian measures.

The revolution of northern Syria is funneled into a very difficult position, forced to accept the integration into a new Syrian state under the rule of an islamist force, or the annihilation under the bombs of the Turkish army. But after more than a decade of revolutionary developments in Syria, and more than four decades of efforts and struggle of the Kurdish Liberation Movement, a promise of an historic announcement is now brought to the table by Abdullah Ocalan, imprisoned leader of PKK. In less than a weak it will be 26 years since hee was imprisoned in the prison of Imrali, and this 15th of February is the date that this historic announcement is expected.

At the same time, many anarchist from all around the world are also coming together in solidarity with the Syrian revolution, organizing events in memory of Omar Aziz. On the 16th of February will be 12 years since he died in the brutal prisons of Assad regime, a regime that after more than 50 years finally collapsed. We will remember him and commemorate his legacy as a revolutionary example, building bridges of solidarity over all Syria and all around the world. Now more than ever revolutionary forces must stand together to face the darkening times ahead of us. We remember our sehids, as well as all revolutionaries that gave their lives fighting for a better world.

Revolutionary greetings!

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#Syria #VictoryCongress #SDF #DAANES #AANES #SNA #HTS #AlSharaa #Rojava #Revolution #DefendRojava #Anarchy #Anarchism #Comrades #Internationalism #Manbij #Kobane #Syria #DOD #USA #Turkey #Erdogan #PKK #NewSyrianArmy #Israel #ENKS #KDP #Druze #DEM #Öcalan #Ocalan #ULB #Brussels #OmarAziz

#NewsFromTheFront
Weekly update from your anarchist comrades in #NES
20.01.25-26.01.25

Also available on https://tekosinaanarsist.noblogs.org/category/war-updates/

## NES ##

# WEARETISHREEN ACTION DAYS

To support resistance in Tishreen Dam, the internationalist commune called for days of action on January 25th and 26th. 10 years ago, on these dates, the city of Kobane was liberated from the attacks of ISIS. Today, the attacks of Turkish forces are still ongoing. For more than 2 weeks civilian convoys have been arriving to maintain a vigil in Tishreen dam. The vigil is continually attacked by drones, with 18 civilians killed and over a 100 injured. Important representatives of the autonomous administration of North-East Syria who joined the vigil also got injured in those attacks, as well as some internationalists who also went there to support the resistance.

# INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS SUSPEND OPERATIONS IN NES

International organizations providing humanitarian help have suspended their programs in northeastern Syria without providing a timeline for the suspension. This follows an executive order signed by the new U.S. President Donald Trump, which temporarily halts all U.S. foreign aid programs for 90 days. Several international organizations operating in northeastern Syria have informed their staff that program implementation will be paused pending a review by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The executive order signed by Trump states that all heads of departments and agencies responsible for U.S. foreign development assistance programs must immediately suspend new commitments and the disbursement of development aid funds.

# RELEASE OF SYRIAN FAMILIES FROM AL-HOL

66 Syrian families currently in the al-Hol camp will be allowed to return to their home. Al-Hol camp hosts families of ISIS fighters, mostly women and children captured during the operations that brought the islamic caliphate to an end. This is the first time that detainees from Syria in al-Hol camp are allowed to leave the camp. Date for return of these families has not yet been disclosed. Talks about return of other Syrian and Iraqi families detained in the camp are on going. This announcement came together with a call to UNHCR and Red Cross to assist the camp administration to ensure the return of those families, as well as a call for the international community to take responsibility for foreign detainees.

## SYRIA ##

# HTS MOVES SOUTH AND EAST

The Military Operations forces, linked to the transitional government of HTS, took control of a corridor along the M5 in southern Syria until the city of Daraa and the border with Jordan. This move divided the territory under control of the southern operations room in the Daraa region and the Druze defense forces in Suweyda region. They also sent military forces east of the coast cities, taking control of the oil and gas fields in the region of southern Raqqa. Since the fall of the regime those areas were under control of SDF, that deployed there to prevent ISIS expansion. This transfer of control was coordinated between SDF, HTS and the international coalition, but some media outlets spread false information of clashes between HTS and SDF that SDF denied.

#ASAAD AL-SHIBANI IN DAVOS FORUM

The Foreign Minister of Syria's transitional government, Assad al Shibani, joined the World Economic Forum held yearly in Davos, Switzerland. He met with important political figures, including an interview with Tony Blair and a meeting with Masrour Barzani, PM of the KRG. Shibani called to lift the economical sanctions on Syria. He invited foreign investment to Syria and stated their intentions to privitise state-run companies. Those are clear indicators of their will to apply a neo-liberal economical agenda in exchange for acceptance as legitimate government of Syria. Shibani also called for the SDF to disband, claiming they have no longer justification to exist since his government is promising to protect the rights of kurds and other minorities.

#ISRAEL MILITARY BASE IN QUNEITRA

Israel army continue their operations to expand their occupation in southern Syria. Recently they started the construction of military base in Quneitra countryside, southern Syria. In some areas where recently deployed forces of the Military Operations, connected to the transitional government of HTS, videos with both military forces deploying together had been recorded. It is not clear how much this operations are coordinated.

## ANALYSIS ##

As HTS government consolidates it's position, asserting their diplomatic influence and expanding their military presence over Syria, their position on the autonomous self-administration starts to be more aggressive. Recent military deployments on the gas and oil fields south of Raqqa were used by some media to claim military advances over SDF, exploiting also ethnic tensions and resentments that may arab nationalists still hold against Kurds. It is not clear how much it was a mistake or disinformation of some media, or how much it was an intentional move to portray the transitional government as strong and decisive against separatism. Assad al-Shibani, FM of the HTS government who recently got his PhD from an Istanbul private university, is calling to disband SDF in the (in)famous World Economic Forum of Davos, while announcing a full embracement of neoliberal economical agenda for Syria.

Al-Sharaa, 'de facto' president of Syria, is also making declarations like "The Kurdish People's Protection Units alone did not respond to our call to restrict weapons to the authorities". Those statements dismiss not just the ongoing negotiations with SDF, but also how other armed groups also rejected his calls to reorganize the monopoly of violence under direct control of a centralized state. As SDF makes diplomatic moves to consolidate it's position and strength in the negotiation table, HTS seems to be more inclined to accelerate tensions towards confrontation, knowing they will have full support of Turkey for any military action against SDF. Turkish state media have a long history of fabricated news, and now already twice they spread false information of alleged car bombs going to Aleppo from SDF areas, indicating their readiness to create excuses to justify attacks on SDF.

Let's not lie, the situation in NES looks difficult. Still, the resistance in Tishreen is an example of the determination to resist against the invasion, to defend the advances of the revolution. We also remember how 10 years ago, 26th of January of 2015, YPG and YPJ announced the liberation of Kobane from the attacks of ISIS. We should not forget that, because at that time it looked much darker than today. And here we are, the revolution did not just defeat the caliphate, but have been also a key element to the collapse of the regime of Bashar al-Assad. It is also making impossible for Turkey to consolidate it's imperial aspirations in Syria and in Kurdistan. Revolutions are not the easy way, we know that, but difficulties won't deter us to pursue our dreams of freedom and liberation.

Revolutionary greetings!