22-12-24
# NES
– Violent clashes continue around the Tishreen dam, with a new offensive of SNA repelled by SDF. SDF also sent reinforcements to the area.
– Turkish occupation bombed the countryside of Kobani and occupied Tal Abyad/Girê Spi, as well as 2 villages west of Tal Tamr. A 12-year old girl and her mother were killed by a turkish drone strike in Kobane countryside.
– In response to the martyrdom of 3 citizens targeted in a car, including the head of the religious council in Tel Brak Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tami, imams and preachers of the Democratic Islam Congress condemned the attack, emphasising “our commitment to carrying the banner of resistance, peace and brotherhood, and our determination to move forward towards achieving these goals.”
# Syria and beyond
– Walid Jumblatt, Druze ex-leader of the progressive Socialist Party of Lebanon, and his son Taymur Jumblatt, met today with Ahmed al-Sharaa (aka al-Julani). In a press statement after the meeting al-Sharaa vowed to end negative interferance from Syria in Lebanon.
– Turkish FM Hakan Fidan met today with Ahmed al-Sharaa,both calling for the lifting of sanctions towards Syria. Al-Sharaa announced a process of disarming and dissolving different armed groups into what will become the new Syrian Army, remarking that this will also include the SDF. Fidan called on the international community to help Syria and for Syrians displaced to return. He also remarked the need for a new constitution in Syria.
– Israeli forces continue to occupy more land in the south, moving up to al-Baath town, near Quneitra.
– US army has sent reinforcements to Syria from Iraq amid Turkish attacks on SDF in NE Syria.
# Analysis
Very fast, al-Julani traded his military-style green shirt for a business-style black suit and a tie, hosting several official meetings this Sunday in the Syrian presidential palace. A new technocrat is born, paving his way to the presidency of Syria and to the corridors of the international Realpolitik.
This creates a very challenging situation for the DAANES, since it is the game that kurdish polititians had been trying to play for the last years. Diplomatic institutions had become an important work for the bodies of the self-administration, moderating the revolutionary narrative to look formal and acceptable to western audiences, aiming to achieve recognition and status for North-East Syria. It worked for a while, creating an illusion that office politics and diplomacy was the right path to follow. But now this illusion is vanishing.
The negotiations of Mazlum Abdi for a ceasefire in Kobane, proposing a demilitarized zone, rightly adressed the concerns that Turkey was putting on the table. This exposed the hipocrasy of AKP, that was just using those conditions as an excuse for their attacks. But with US entering the game, and especially with the fierce resistance of SDF in Tishreen and Qereqozah, the invasion got halted for now. SDF is crushing wave after wave of the mercenaries that Erdogan is sending.
Erdogan has hopes that Trump will side with him when he takes office, but the pro-kurdish positions from some senators of the republican party -with a the bipartisan bill against Erdogan proposed in the US senate- are now bringing doubts about that. Kurdish diplomacy has been playing a pivotal role in the last years, and the revolutionary process also paid a price for it, having to play the role that western powers (mainly US) wanted to see “the kurdish partners” playing.
But the kurdish liberation movement is more than the diplomacy of Rojava, and the resistance in kobane is proof of that. We made it that far because the people of Rojava have always been ready to fight and defend their land. If we want to push for revolutionary transformations, we need to take initiative and go on the offensive.
Revolutionary greetings!