“The Kurdish armed forces, which for years have been the main allies of the West in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS), have accused the United States and Great Britain of outright betrayal. Against the background of the rapid advance of Islamist forces, the Kurds say that their former allies have abandoned them to their own devices in the face of the threat of genocide.”, — write: www.pravda.com.ua
Source: The Telegraph
Literally: “The Kurds have accomplished their mission and more, destroying the caliphate and patrolling a vast area in northern and eastern Syria, keeping the terror group’s imprisoned fighters under control.”
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Details: According to the publication, the situation in the north of Syria is approaching catastrophic. As Washington prepares for the final withdrawal of its troops, the Kurdish population finds itself surrounded by the forces of new Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on a narrow strip of land near the Turkish border.
The key message of the Kurdish resistance is the fear of genocide. Commanders and civilians emphasize that if they lay down their arms, they will face death rather than capture. These fears are reinforced by reports of atrocities by Syrian government forces, which have already killed more than 1,400 Alawites and hundreds of Druze.
The commander of the all-female unit (YPJ), Nesrin Abdullah, has bluntly stated that the lack of support from the US frees the hands of government forces to carry out genocide against the Kurdish people. According to her, the West’s calls for surrender are equivalent to a death sentence.
“We do not receive any support from the US. A few public statements will not stop the genocide against us. They are asking us to surrender,” she says.
Earlier, a video appeared online showing a fighter of pro-government forces flaunting a severed strand of hair from a murdered Kurdish female soldier. For the Kurds, this is a symbol not only of murder, but also of insulting the honor of the entire people.
screenshot“As Kurdish women, we will defend ourselves, our homeland and our honor. We will fight to the last drop of blood,” said an elderly Kurdish woman, Hevin Ibrahim Hassan, holding an AK-47.
Kurdish fighter Mitan Shoresh, who is recovering from an injury, insists that there will be no barrier between them and the Islamists after the US leaves.
“If we surrender our weapons, they will exterminate us. Therefore, we will never surrender our weapons,” he emphasized.
While the Kurds are trying to hold back the advance of the Islamists, the American military is engaged in the urgent evacuation of about 7,000 captured ISIS fighters to Iraq. After the completion of this mission, Washington is considering the complete withdrawal of its contingent that has remained in Syria for the past 12 years.
Amid the chaos, al-Sharaa’s forces captured detention centers where about 9,000 ISIS fighters and their families were held. It is reported that two prisons have already been captured, and the wives of Islamists escaped from the Al-Hol camp, where 23 thousand people were held, by destroying the fences.
There are reports of mass killings already taking place in the territories captured by the Islamists. In particular, it is known about the shooting of a Kurdish family that tried to escape from the city of Raqqa. There is also a humanitarian crisis in the region: lack of water, electricity and huge queues for bread.
Trump’s special envoy for Syria and the US ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, said that the new Syrian president is ready to take responsibility for security and that the US relationship with the Kurdish forces has “largely exhausted itself”.
“Coalition forces did nothing for us. We worked together against the Islamic State for so many years, but they did not give us any support. I say this openly: they betrayed us,” Shoresh said.
For reference: Kurds are an ancient people living in the Middle East, mainly within the ethno-geographical region of Kurdistan, which is divided by the borders of Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. This is the largest ethnic group in the world (according to various estimates from 30 to 45 million people), which does not have its own state. For centuries, the Kurds were subjected to oppression and forced assimilation.
During the Syrian civil war, the Kurds established an autonomous administration and became a key ground ally of the US-led International Coalition against ISIS terrorists. It was the Kurdish units that played a decisive role in the physical destruction of the ISIS “Caliphate”, losing more than 10,000 fighters in the battles.
What preceded:
- In 2024, Bashar al-Assad’s regime fell under the pressure of Islamist groups led by former Jabhat al-Nusra leader Ahmed al-Shara. The US, seeking to counteract Iranian influence, moved closer to the new government, effectively abandoning support for Kurdish autonomy.