Supported by three others women, Fatima struggles to get through the huge crowd that came this Friday to this small cemetery in Kobané. Between two sobs, she stammers, over and over, the same lamentations: “Why did they kill my son? What do our enemies still want from us? This all has to stop now.» Next to her, another mother, just as devastated, collapses on the cool earth covering her son's coffin. The portraits of the eight deceased of the day are brandished by the approximately 2,500 people who came to attend the funeral and who, at regular intervals, roar the same “glory to our martyrs! ».
Since the fall of Bashar El-Assad a week ago, the same scene has been repeated in Kobané. Every day, the Kurds bury their fallen fighters there or under bombardment from Turkish drones or fighters.
“His assassination is not a coincidence”: the family of Syrian activist Mazen al-Hamada testifies
Kobané threatened
Currently, it is about fifty kilometers further south, at the Tichrine dam, that the fiercest fighting is taking place. On Thursday, 22 soldiers of the FDS (Syrian Democratic Forces), this multi-faith force dominated by the Kurds of the YPG, died there. “Only six could be identified, testifies a resident of the city. The others, their bodies were so charred that we could not recognize them.. » The battle for control of this dam and the adjoining bridge spanning the Euphrates is crucial. If the enemy manages to seize it, then it is Kobané who will this time be directly threatened.
This is not the first time that this town in northern Syria on the Turkish border has prepared for an assault. In 2014, its name had already traveled around the world when, at the cost of numerous human sacrifices, its inhabitants resisted the offensives of Daesh. This time, it is the Syrian militias supported if not remotely guided by Turkey and grouped under the name of the Syrian National Army (SNA) that we must face.
We also dug tunnels and made holes in the walls of houses to move more easily from one to the other..
« We prepared for urban battles says Salah Mouhadin, 55, member of the Assayich, the internal security forces. Snipers are already positioned on the roofs and sandbags have been installed to protect our positions. We also dug tunnels and made holes in the walls of houses to move more easily from one to the other. . » Nobody knows exactly where the attacks will come from. From the south? Through neighboring Turkey? By men going up the Euphrates?
Erdogan's hand
Whatever the new authorities in Damascus say, Syria is not done with the war. In this northern part of the country, the fall of Bashar El-Assad even gave the signal for new offensives. Behind it, there is the hand of Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Turkish president has always made the Kurdish forces his main enemy. In his country, but also in northern Syria. It is true that the YPG, the Syrian Kurdish militias which make up the bulk of the FDS troops, maintain links with the Turks of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), classified as a terrorist group in the United States and Europe. However, the YPG does not carry out terrorist operations in Türkiye and is part of an autonomous administration in which all sectarian groups participate.
Whatever. For Erdogan, the express recomposition of Syria was seen as a unique opportunity to regain ground on its supposed enemies. Very quickly, the strategic town of Manbij was attacked. The FDS had to resolve to abandon it to the pro-Turkish militias. “When I left, the fighters had already started looting my three stores and my house », laments Ali Abbach, a 40-year-old trader who has now taken refuge in Kobané.
The Kurds, collateral victims of the war in Ukraine
“We are looking for dialogue”
The decline of the FDS did not stop there. Under popular pressure, they also had to leave Deir ez-Zor, a city in the east with a large Arab majority. They still control Raqqa, but, in this locality which was the stronghold of Daesh in Syria, the nervousness is palpable. Humvees zoom through the streets. Internet access is now cut off during the night. Shots were also heard on Friday, as the city, like the rest of Syria, celebrated the end of the old regime. Even Qamishli, further north, was not spared from Turkish bombing.
For the moment, the SDF and the autonomous region of the North-East benefit from the relative protection of the 900 American soldiers, officially maintained in Syria to fight against the resurgence of the Islamic State. But what will happen if Donald Trump decides to withdraw them? To answer this question, the autonomous Syrian North would like to know what future HTC, the Islamist group now in power in Damascus, has in store for it.
Power should not be in the hands of one group.
«We are looking for dialogue with him but so far we have no contact»,deplores Fanar Al-Kuait, chairman of the foreign policy committee of the autonomous government. This 62-year-old Kurd insists on the fact that all components of Syria must be involved in the formation of the future government, the composition of which must be announced on Thursday. “Power should not be in the hands of one group»,he insists. He advocates a federalist system which, according to him, can alone do justice to the diversity of Syrian society.
Sinhari Barsoum, leader of the Syriac Union Party, which represents the interests of Syriac-Aramaic Christians in Syria, agrees. “The rights and equality of all segments of the population must be enshrined in the new Constitution»,demands the 48-year-old manager. He recalls how much the Christian population in Syria, particularly in the northeast of the country, has suffered from Islamist rebels.
In 2012, the Al-Nusra Front, ancestor of HTC, attacked the region and occupied areas along the border, including the city of Ras el-Ain. “Five hundred Christian families had to flee, says Barsoum. Many did not return, even when the Nusra Front withdrew the following year.» And to warn the new masters of the country: “If diversity is not ensured and Sharia law is introduced, then there will be fighting and a new civil war. »
