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#NewsFromTheFront
Weekly highlight from your anarchist comrades in #NES
14.04.25-20.04.25
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# HAWL CAMP OPERATIONS
SDF and Asayish carry through search and sweep operations to identify ISIS sleeper cells in Hawl camp, capturing 16 ISIS members so far. Co-ordinations with Syrian and Iraqi governments to return displaced persons to their homes are ongoing. Jihan Hannan, Co-Director of Hawl Camp warns: “The real danger lies in the radical ideas carried by children and women who have become victims of ISIS,”, rather than the presence of weapons and individual ISIS fighters.
# ALLEGED COUP ATTEMPT OF FORMER SYRIAN REGIME THWARTED
According to Syrian Interior Minister Anas Khattab, government forces intercepted what was described as an attempted coup allegedly planned by former regime officers targeting the transitional leadership of President Ahmad al-Shara. The ministry attributed the disruption to improved intelligence and coordination with defense and security agencies, although details such as timing and the involvement of specific individuals remain unclear. The incident highlights ongoing internal tensions amid Syria’s evolving political landscape and the confident and capable face the transitional government wants to project while at the same time facing no shortage of external as well as internal enemies.
# REFUGEES RETURN TO SYRIA
Turkey reports that 175,512 Syrian refugees returned already from Turkey to Syria since the fall of Assad. According to UNHCR 400,000 Syrians have returned from neighboring countries since the fall of the Assad regime. In addition more than 1 million internally displaced people (IDPs) within Syria have also returned to their homes.
# DISPLACED FAMILIES RETURN TO HOMES IN DEIR EZ-ZOR
Several families moved back to Deir ez-Zor in the course of a program by AANES to let IDPs voluntarily return to their places of origin.
# US AIMS TO HALVE ITS TROOPS IN NES
Statement was made on April 18 from Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell to bring the U.S. footprint in Syria down to less than a thousand U.S. forces in the coming months. Rather than being called a "withdrawal" they use the language of "consolidation". While there has been long standing tensions between Trump and Pentagon on this issue, to the point where his first Defense secretary Jim Mattis resigned in protest, the current policies seems to split the difference between vulgar rants on X and US self serving interests abroad.
The statement ends with a call on the international community to repatriate their nationals and that US still has significant capabilities in the region with a continuous ability to adjust.
# AL-SHARA CONTINUES DIPLOMATIC VISITS ABROAD
Ahmad Al-Shara and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani held their first known meeting since the HTS takeover in Damascus, discussing joint border security and economic cooperation. Iraqi officials emphasized the need for a comprehensive political process in Syria and highlighted the importance of protecting its diverse social and religious fabric while countering threats like ISIS.
# PLATFORM FOR UNITY OF KURDISH WOMEN
Representatives of 24 women organizations from all four parts of Kurdistan founded the Platform for Untiy of Kurdish Women in Sulaymanya aiming to strengthen national unity of women of Kurdistan as a precondition to peace.
# YEZIDI NEW YEAR
This year's celebrations of Red Wednesday, the Yezidi New Year, emphasized themes of resilience, freedom, and the importance of cultural preservation in the wake of years of marginalization and violence. In Dokar village the holiday with its traditional symbolism of rebirth and the arrival of spring was attended by many.
# END FOR WATER CRISIS IN SIGHT?
Renewed political coordination between SDF and the Syrian transitional government gives a glimpse of hope to stabilise new sources of water for the residents of NES. Alouk Water Station in Ras al-Ain (Sere Kaniye) might be turned operational again also for NES use, after Turkish occupation and war led to depriving of NES from this source as well as its shutdown in 2023.
# GERMANY STOPS EXPORT OF EUROFIGHTERS TO TURKEY
According to a media report, the German government is blocking the delivery of about three dozen Eurofighter jets to Turkey. A key reason for this decision is the arrest of Ekrem Imamoğlu, the ousted mayor of Istanbul, which has drawn sharp criticism of President Erdoğan from German officials. They describe the situation as an "attack on Turkish democracy," justifying the halt of the arms deal.
# MAY 1ST COMMITTEE ZURICH INVITES ÖCALAN TO BE MAIN SPEAKER
The committee sent a letter to Imrali inviting Ocalan,to at least be symbolically at a distance the main speaker in this year's May First in Zurich.
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# ANALYSIS
Operations in Al Hawl camp highlight the global consequences of colonization in so-called Middle east and Asia. Emergence of modern radical Islamist movements is directly connected to military and political strategy of global state powers in recent decades.
ISIS is no exception. Its criticisms of capitalism and western imperialism came with a brutal program of rape and genocide in war-torn Syria and Iraq. There was not much else that could be done than defeating ISIS militarily, and SDF succeeded in that. However, military victory did not resolve the problems that gave birth to ISIS in the first place. In his Manifesto for Democratic Civilization, Abdullah Öcalan observed:
"Even if we could win multiple victories with armies as mighty as those of Alexander, it would most certainly not be the victory of freedom. Military victories cannot bring freedom; they bring slavery; they can only be valued when won in defense of self, friends, and comrades. On the contrary, I find defending myself against such victories as necessary as defending myself against power itself. If I had my own armies, I would consider defending myself against their victories as the greatest struggle."
We can see this reflection in the current situation of ISIS in Syria. Incredibly valuable and necessary military defeat of ISIS did not erase the ideas on which the Caliphate stood. Today, Al Hawl camp shows us the value of continued struggle in the social sphere of education, rehabilitation and reconciliation. The same reflection can bring us to think about the defense of the revolution in the current political turmoil of Syria and its surroundings: it is not the military capacity which is the greatest or most important strength of this revolution. Its ideas are that strength.
And still, war continues to loom over Syria. With US troops reducing their numbers and possibly withdrawing in the future, ISIS doubling down on underground activities, Israel and Turkey dividing spheres of influence, rising tensions in the overall region and a fragile pause in fighting in the Northeast of Syria, the search for a political solution and way forward can crash against many dead ends. Nevertheless, current agreements, meetings and other developments give the self-defense forces of the revolution a much-needed break. Another round of escalation might not be too far away.
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