Updates 11-12-2024
# Ongoing situation
– The interim government of HTS is slowly formalizing their power, making interviews in western suits and staging press conferences declaring “Our goal is to restore security and stability to all Syrian cities and return millions of Syrian refugees”.
– Israel continue their bombing campaign, with more than 400 targets hit. They announced destruction of 80% of military capabilities of Syria. The IDF occupation (“security zone”) is growing every day, expanding alongside the Lebanon border, with tanks now at 20 km from Damascus.
– SOHR reports attacks of violent masked men in Latakia and Damascus outskirts. Videos spread in social networks with masked military teams storming towns, mainly of christian population. Some videos show al-Nusra flags being waved by the attackers.
# Turkey and SNA offensive
– Turkish air force bombs several villages around Kobane city, including Lafarge cement plant and Mishtenur. Some reports indicate that SNA fighters (with turkish air support) are crossing the Qereqozah bridge to start ground attacks on Kobane, but in the last hours very few information is arriving, probably due to internet restrictions.
– Turkey also bombed the Assayish headquarters of the Raqqa, this is the first airstrike in Raqqa city since 2017, when SDF liberated it from ISIS. US coalition forces moved some troops inside the city after the strike.
– Videos of the brutalities of SNA in the territories they occupy from SDF are spreading in social networks. Their channels are going full of videos were they record themselves torturing and killing, with calls to “kill all the kurds” and other anti-kurdish statements.
– Bombings alongsidethe M4 and Til Temir front lines are also increasing every day, with drones, mortars and rockets hitting different points, as close to the city as the village of Til Cuma at just 2 kilometers of Til Temir.
# Other related updates
– Turkey is opening borders to let Syrians return to Syria as “voluntary return”, making them sign a document that don’t allow them to return to Turkey. Several European countries are also discussing about the situation for Syrians to return, with narratives dominated by far-right parties.
– Rojava Information Center is also working on daily updates, with verified information and reports from different areas of NES. Read their report of 10-12-24 here: https://rojavainformationcenter.org/2024/12/update-escalation-in-nes/
# Analysis
HTS is now busy making itself more presentable to western audiences, hoping to gain official legitimacy throw capturing the Syrian state structure. Western powers are going along with that, and no one is putting much attention to the small scale attacks that their rogue islamist groups are doing. The DAANES is holding talks with them, accepting them as provisional government for now, hoping to halt Turkish offensive and work towards a federal Syria that respects regional autonomy.
Turkey is moving further in their attacks, striking as far as Raqqa, making a bold statement that they are ready to defy US red lines in order to achieve their aims. The SNA soldiers are recording and spreading videos of the horrendous crimes they are committing as part of their psychological warfare, evoking the behavior of ISIS. This is not a coincidence, several ISIS fighters have been reported to be now holding command positions inside different factions of SNA.
Israel is moving further into Syria, defying even the UN that called to not push forward. With Russia and Iran losing all their influence on Syria, Israel and Turkey (strategic NATO allies, Turkey being formal member of the military alliance) are taking advantage of the situation to advance their imperialist agendas, indirectly supporting each other in their occupations.
DAANES is struggling to sustain the developments of past years, with Turkey attacks on Eufrates region and inter-tribal tensions in Deir-Ezzor, where some tribes pleading alliances with HTS while others reaffirm their support to SDF. This is nothing new, is the continuation of the tribal conflicts that had been ongoing in the region for some time.
One important topic to put attention is the situation of women. Women played very important roles all along Syria since the first uprisings of 2011, but in HTS protests and events, the absence of women is very noticeable, specially when compared with the role of women in DAANES. Rojava is a women revolution, and this is becoming even more obvious now, when all other forces are overwhelmingly male.
Enough for today, keep struggling and support the revolution!
Revolutionary greetings! 🖤