21.04.25 – 27.04.25
Kurdistan Conference
The DAANES and SDF have been strengthening their diplomatic position, meeting with delegations from Germany, France and US. In a major step towards Kurdish political unity, more than 400 delegates from Northern, Southern and Western Kurdistan gathered in Qamişlo for the Rojava Kurdish Unity and Common Stance Conference. The final declaration, read out by Foza Yûsif of PYD and Mihemed Ismail of ENKS affirmed “a shared view and position based on a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, and multicultural identity, committed to international human rights conventions, protecting women’s freedom and rights, ensuring their effective participation in political, social, and military institutions, guaranteeing the constitutional rights of the Kurds, and achieving a fair and comprehensive solution to the Kurdish issue within the framework of a united Syria.”
The following day, the new Syrian regime accused the SDF of violating the terms of the agreement between Mazlûm Abdî and Ahmed al Sharaa, by promoting federalism and establishing a de facto separate reality on the ground, against the spirit of that agreement.
Syrian-International Relations
Representatives of the new Syrian regime continue establishing ties with countries around the world. A shipment of wheat arrived in Latkiya, reportedly of Russian origin, the first shipment since the fall of the Assad regime. Al-Sharaa met with Iraqi government officials, discussing reopening the al Tanf border crossing, securing their border, the possibility of rehabilitating the Iraq-Syria oil pipeline to Syrian ports on the Mediterranean, and trade. Trucks began delivering grain to Syria from Iraq this week. South Korea & the Yemeni government will open embassies with Syria (a reversal of former Assad regime’s ties with North Korea and Houthi rebels, who ran the Yemeni embassy in Damascus under Assad). Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani raised new Syrian flag at the UN in New York. The IMF is discussing how they will “help” Syria to recover economically.
UK removed several sanctions on Syria, including Defense and Interior Ministries, following other EU and US sanctions which have been removed, but many sanctions remain in place. The US have issued 8 demands to the Al Sharaa regime in order to waive further sanctions for 2 years, including a public ban on any Palestinian political activity, proscribing the Iranian IRGC as a terrorist organisation, and allowing unilateral US military action on Syrian territory. Perhaps in a gesture towards these demands, the regime arrested 2 leaders of al Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement. However, the Syrian regime expressed disagreement over these demands as infringing on Syrian sovereignty.
Syrian Government Consolidating State Amidst Opposition Forces
In the coastal region, an Alawite force has been created under Rami Makhlouf, cousin of former dictator Bashar al-Assad; they claim to be only for protecting the people and call for international forces, especially Russia, to support them. Meanwhile a new Sunni-Jihadist group, Saraya Ansar al Sunnah, ideologically very close to IS, began carrying out killings of Alawites allegedly connected to the old regime. They do not accept the transitional government and are open to collaboration with IS; they also say they will attack the Druze in the south. In Der ez Zor countryside, attacks against SDF continue; ISIS has claimed several in the past 2 weeks, though not all.
Against this, and the fragile truces negotiated with SNA and SDF, the new regime is seeking to extend its presence throughout the country. The Interior Ministry seized a large shipment of weapons allegedly bound for Suweyda, amid operations seeking to crack down on weapon proliferation in the Druze south. In Aleppo governorate, a former commander of al Nusra Front, Abdul Rahman Salama, was appointed deputy supervisor of Afrin, Azaz, al Bab, Jarablus and Manbij, as part of the provinces plan to intensify administrative presence in the area.
Commemoration of 1915 Armenian Genocide
This week marked 110 years since the beginning of the Genocide of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, which went on to target Syriacs, Assyrians and Chaldeans. In the forced displacement, during which around 1.5 million Armenians and up to 500,000 Syriacs, Assyrians and Chaldeans were killed, almost all of the Armenians of modern-day Turkey were force-marched hundreds of kilometers to the deserts of Syria. Many Armenians in Syria are descendents of those surivivors. Commemorations of the genocide were held in different towns and cities in North-East Syria, where the actions of modern-day Turkey in Syria and Artsakh were condemned as a continuation of the genocidal policies of the Ottoman Empire.
Reflections
The complicated tangle of overlapping interests in Syria and the region are continuing to change, as various states and bodies seek to press their advantage after the fall of Assad. The new regime in Syria is seeking to consolidate its position, amid the contradictory demands of states near and far. Iran is trying to salvage some of their tattered influence in Syria and Lebanon, but are under great pressure from the US, who simultaneously make heavy demands and not-so-discreetly threaten war. Israel is trying to prevent the emergence of a strong Syria, or the growth of Turkish influence. Turkey is trying to reach its fingers into every aspect of the newly emerging state.
The US is trying to mediate the conflicting interests of Turkey and Israel, aiming to avoid open conflict between them, while seeking to find an arrangement of the new Syria that suits them. The US seems to be supporting a large role for Turkey in the rebuilding of Syria, while trying to ease Israel’s concerns about their perceived threats. This is reflected in the Americans’ demands of the Syrian regime in exchange for sanctions relief, notably in the banning of all Palestinian factions in the country. While the new government sees this as an infringement on Syrian sovereignty, their arrest of Palestinian militia leaders suggests an amount of willingness to accomodate these demands.
In the face of all of this, al Sharaa is seeking new relations with many countries around the world, trying to get support from anyone who will give it. Their vision of sovereignty is heavily based on a strongly centralized model, and for all their claims that the new Syria will guarantee the rights of all citizens, regardless of ethnicity or confession, we know that the strongest guarantees of the rights and existence of any community are their autonomy and capacity for self-defense. The presence of DAANES and SDF at the negotiation tables today gives proof to that truth, as it is only through their assertion through self-defense and self-organization that they forced other parties to acknowledge the peoples of North East Syria and engage with them.
Of course, it is a well known tactic of imperial powers to divide their targets, to use minorities in order to divide and weaken a country, making it susceptible to their influence and aggression. Various countries in the region see a partition of Syria to their benefit, and are doing what they can to that end. The proposals of SDF and the Kurdish Liberation Movement in NES represent an alternative to such divisive tactics of imperialists and aggressors.
A truly pluralistic and confederal Syria, wherein each people takes its place with its own colour in a confederal unity, offers a hopeful path. It can bring an end to the sectarian strife so often fueled and weaponized by those powers who see in Syria only pawns for their geopolitical games and resources to plunder. It remains to be seen if al Jolani’s new regime will recognize the truth of this, or will sacrifice the Syrian peoples to foreign interests in order to secure his power.
Revolutionary greetings!