LAST week, as snow fell on Kobani, a Kurdish-majority town on the Syrian border with Türkiye, the distinctive thud of shelling emerged from the distance. Despite a four-day ceasefire agreed on 20 January between the Syrian transitional government and the Kurdish-led SDF, Damascus-affiliated factions continued to attack the surrounding countryside.
“We are really afraid they will attack the city soon,” said Mohamed on 22 January. The Kurdish man has lived in Kobani since 2013, and was speaking to The New Humanitarian via a Turkish network, as he said the Syrian government was blocking the internet in the city. “We are afraid of violations against us if they control the city,” added the 29-year-old, who asked to be quoted by one name for security reasons.
Kobani, which was besieged by IS in 2014 before they were driven back by Kurdish forces, sits within the Kurdish-controlled Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES), known as Rojava among Kurds.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former member of al-Qaeda, wants to dissolve Rojava and incorporate it into a unified Syrian state, while disbanding its military wing, the SDF. In the last few weeks, Damascus has taken control of vast swathes of Kurdish-held territory in the largest military offensive since the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024.
Fighting briefly stopped before the ceasefire was extended for 15 days on the night of 24 January, but the SDF reported fresh attacks against villages west of Kobani the following day, with a child among four people killed. The army also said the SDF had launched multiple drone attacks in the Aleppo countryside on 25 January. Tensions remain high, and there are reports of a general mobilisation across Kurdish areas, with SDF leaders calling on Kurds to join the resistance against government forces.
Under the ceasefire agreement, the SDF needs to implement a 14-point plan to disband and integrate its soldiers into the Syrian army. If it fails to do so, Damascus says its forces will resume their offensive to take Kobani, as well as the remaining SDF strongholds of Hasakeh and Qamishli. The extension was intended to give the US time to move several so-called Islamic State (IS) detainees from northeastern Syria to secure facilities in Iraq.
Humanitarian aid convoys were beginning to enter Kobani on 25 January, following a siege that left approximately 400,000 people without power, water, and food. However, speaking on 26 January, Mohamed said there was still a shortage of supplies, with not enough aid for the number of people in need. “I have a five-month-old baby, and I am having a lot of difficulty in providing him with milk and finding oil to warm my house,” he said.
According to the Kurdish Red Crescent, five children have died because of the cold since the beginning of the blockade on 16 January. Many people who fled from the surrounding villages to Kobani are living in their cars and sheltering in schools amid the freezing temperatures.
Fears that massacres could repeat
The ongoing clashes stem from the breakdown in negotiations over how the SDF should be integrated into the Syrian state, as well as the issue of autonomy for Kurds. They make up around 10% of the population and were controlling much of northeastern Syria under their de facto administration after defeating IS with the backing of the United States.
Since the fall of al-Assad, Syria – a diverse country made up of many different religious and ethnic groups – has witnessed waves of deadly sectarian violence involving government forces and affiliated factions that have left Kurds and other minority groups fearful.
Yazidis, in particular, are afraid. The ethno-religious minority has suffered centuries of persecution, including a genocide committed by IS in 2014 in Sinjar, their ancestral homeland in Iraq. At least 5,000 Yazidis were killed, and an estimated 7,000 Yazidi women and children were kidnapped and forced into sexual slavery.
“If the situation continues like this and there’s no intervention, there is a threat of genocide against Yazidis, whether that be a more violent, bloody one, or… a genocide that is systematically making it impossible for Yazidis to exist, culturally and socially.”
Guli, a 62-year-old Yazidi activist living in Qamishli, a Kurdish-majority town in northeast Syria, told The New Humanitarian she fears another genocide may happen.
“We have a strong fear over the last year,” said Guli, who preferred to give her first name only, for security reasons. “They are claiming that Syria has been liberated from al-Assad, but since then, all we have witnessed is brutal attacks against the Alawites, Druze, Christians, and we fear that the same attacks are coming for us as Yazidis too.”
“If the situation continues like this and there’s no intervention, there is a threat of genocide against Yazidis, whether that be a more violent, bloody one, or… a genocide that is systematically making it impossible for Yazidis to exist, culturally and socially,” Guli added.
The Syrian president issued a decree on 16 January recognising Kurdish cultural rights, including designating Kurdish as a national language and restoring citizenship to previously stateless Kurds. This was welcomed by some Kurds as a step in the right direction, but others say it falls short of constitutional recognition. There was also no mention of protecting the rights of other minorities, such as Yazidis, who speak Kurdish and share strong ties with Kurds, but follow a different religion, Yazidism.
For Guli, al-Sharaa’s words ring hollow. “When you hear the words spoken by the government, you think that Syria is perfectly fine,” she said. “But when you look at the reality on the ground, all you see is massacres and violations,” Guli added, referencing the recent clashes in the Kurdish-majority neighbourhoods of Aleppo, which she describes as a “massacre”.
Fighting broke out between the SDF and the Syrian government in Aleppo’s Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighbourhoods in early January, with both sides accusing the other of violating a ceasefire agreement. The Syrian government gained control of the area after a battle that killed at least 30 people and displaced more than 150,000. “[After that] the trust is broken. We cannot believe [the government],” said Guli. She added that “any resolution in Syria should include a recognition of [Yazidis’] rights and our safety in the constitution”.
Displacement adds to the risks
Among the displaced from those clashes were hundreds of Yazidis who fled from Aleppo to Afrin. One of those was Abdul Qader Hasko. He had been director at the Khalid Fajr Hospital in Sheikh Maqsoud, where he was treating wounded civilians until it was bombed by government forces on 8 January.
Afrin, which is now under the control of the Syrian government after it absorbed the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA), is not considered a safe place by the Yazidis. They have faced targeted harassment and persecution there since 2018. “We are afraid here in Afrin,” said 62-year-old Hasko. “There are Yazidi villages where they built mosques and call the Yazidis infidels and devil worshippers,” he said. “Any accusation can be fabricated against you by anyone who wishes to harm you, and you can be eliminated without any legal accountability or trial.”
Guli said most Yazidis in Afrin have to hide their identity and “are even scared of talking about Yazidism inside their houses. Some [of my] relatives would not talk to me out of fear of being recognised as Yazidis.”
“Many believe that in the near future there may be no Yazidis left in Syria due to ongoing discrimination,” she added.
The number of Yazidis in Syria has already been declining for decades. Guli estimated that there are currently only around 25,000 Yazidis left in the country. Before 2012, there were about 35,000 Yazidis living in Afrin alone, she added.
Yazidis want a peaceful resolution, and for the ceasefire to hold, however they are worried that the integration of the SDF into the government’s forces will leave them vulnerable. “The SDF and their affiliated People’s Protection Units (YPG) have been fighting [IS] since 2014 and have proven themselves a trusted force for the Yazidi people by protecting us and recognising our existence,” said Hasko.
As the SDF withdraws from two provinces in the north, Raqqa and Deir al-Zour, per the ceasefire agreement, they have also transferred control of camps and prisons housing IS fighters and their families to the Syrian government.
Hasko’s daughter, Yara, works as an art teacher with an organisation rehabilitating former IS-affiliated boys held in detention facilities. “We have heard reports of releases, alongside media campaigns attempting to absolve women, children, and families from al-Hol camp, portraying the accusations against them as false,” said the 30-year-old, who is based in Qamishli. “However, I know very well that many women and children there still hold extremist jihadist ideology. As a Yazidi woman, I would be among the first to be targeted if they are released.”
“Without the presence of the SDF, Yazidis would inevitably face harassment and attacks. This is not merely a fear, but a near certainty,” she added.
This is deepening concerns not just in Syria, but also in neighbouring Iraq, where Yazidi communities fear the latest developments are giving IS the chance to regroup.
“What we are hearing from friends and family members on the ground [in Sinjar] is that tensions are very high and people are afraid of the spillover of the conflict into Iraq, like it did back in 2013,” said Abid Shamdeen, who is the co-founder of Nadia’s Initiative, an NGO founded by the Yazidi activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nadia Murad that advocates for Yazidis and survivors of sexual violence.
“I hope the international community will not let Yazidis down again, that they will act before it’s too late for Yazidis and other vulnerable communities,” he said, adding that there should be a UN international peace force deployed to monitor the evolving situation in Syria.
Other organisations, such as the Free Yezidi Foundation, are also calling on the international community to help protect the minority group.
Edited by Andrew Gully.
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The New Humanitarian puts quality, independent journalism at the service of the millions of people affected by humanitarian crises around the world. Find out more at www.thenewhumanitarian.org.
