Kurdish autonomous struggle caught between competing interests as the entanglement of regional and local powers enters a new phase
~ Blade Runner ~
The Peoples’ Democratic Assembly convened in Rojava yesterday (2 December) to evaluate the resumption of the war in Syria, and plan for a possible attack on the Democratic Autonomous Administration. According to a statement, mass meetings will be organised to evaluate the political developments, and emergency committees should be established in all towns, cities and cantons in the region, as well as at border crossings to welcome refugees from other parts of Syria.
In the past week, a coalition of jihadist rebel groups led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), including the Turkish-backed former ISIS groups Syrian National Army (SNA) and Fateh Mubin (“Military Operations Command”), has launched a surprise offensive against Assad’s Syrian government in northwest Syria, reigniting the civil war after a hiatus of several years. These forces advanced unchallenged to seize control of Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city, and captured large swathes of land reaching the outskirts of the fourth-largest city of Hama.
Syrian regime forces are regrouping to confront the rebels with support from pro-Iranian militias entering from Iraq. The airstrikes are on multiple fronts and backed by Syrian, Russian, and Turkish forces, causing civilian casualties and population displacement. Likely US-led air strikes have also occurred on the southern Rojava border against Iranian Revolutionary Guard positions.
Forces affiliated with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are fighting to reclaim villages controlled by the pro-Assad forces and Iranian militias, to enable the return of displaced citizens. SDF, a coalition led by the Rojava People’s Protection Units (Yekîneyên Parastina Gel, YPG) and Women’s Protection Units (Yekîneyên Parastina Jin, YPJ), perceive the offensive as driven by the Turkish president Erdogan and aimed at compromising Rojava. Following the Syrian regime’s withdrawal, the SDF advanced into Aleppo and occupied the city’s international airport.
HTS, which includes former ISIS fighters in its ranks, later took control of the airport from the SDF without clashes. HTS has reportedly offered the SDF a safe withdrawal from Aleppo. The status of such a withdrawal is still uncertain.
These developments highlight the broader consequences of US-led proxy wars: Israel’s campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon, and the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Israeli strikes have preoccupied Iran, indirectly weakening the Assad regime; Russia’s military focus on Ukraine has been exploited by Turkish-backed forces in northern Syria.
In 2018, Russia, Iran, and Turkey signed the Astana agreements to secure a ceasefire in Syria. The accords established Idlib in northwest Syria as a “de-escalation zone.” However, Turkey has since leveraged the region to advance its geopolitical goals. In Afrin, 60km north-west of Aleppo and once part of Rojava, Turkish-backed forces have maintained control since 2018, functioning as a proto-state under the dual authority of local councils and Turkish military administration. The SDF has called on all ethnic groups in the region — Kurds, Arabs, Syriacs, Assyrians, Armenians, and Circassians — to join their ranks against attacks from both ISIS-aligned forces and Erdogan’s military.
Rojava has long sought autonomy in a region dominated by oppressive states and fundamentalist forces. Shifting US priorities have left it increasingly vulnerable and Trump’s return threatens to intensify this isolation, potentially forcing Kurdish forces into precarious alliances or confronting simultaneous threats from Assad and Erdogan. Rojava’s future depends on navigating regional and international power dynamics while safeguarding its commitment to values such as direct democracy, pluralistic autonomy, libertarian socialism, ecology, and feminism. The project’s survival may hinge on sustained international solidarity in an increasingly volatile geopolitical landscape.
