The four civilians were attacked while lighting a bonfire to celebrate Nowruz. The attack was carried out by a separatist group supported by Ankara. The attack has reignited tensions between warring factions in an area long disputed between Kurds, anti-Assad groups and movements close to Turkey. HRW: The area has been the scene “of human rights violations for the last five years.”
Aleppo () – Thousands of Syrian Kurds took to the streets in the city of Jinderis to demonstrate against the murder of four civilians at the hands of an armed rebel group supported by Turkey. The incident, which occurred a few days ago, threatens to increase the climate of tension in an area that has long been in the crosshairs of Ankara. In fact, Turkey has repeatedly threatened a ground military operation. And at the same time, it has frustrated the timid attempts at cooperation between the parties after the devastating earthquake on February 6.
The event occurred on the night of March 20, when some men lit a bonfire to celebrate the New Year (the Nowruz festival). The attackers who fired on the Kurds are most likely from Jaish al Sharqiya, a separatist group that once belonged to Ahrar Sharqiya, which fought with Damascus in the Syrian conflict and was supported by Turkey. However, the Syrian National Army (an alliance of movements linked to Ankara) was quick to condemn the attack and the deaths and vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice, in an attempt to defuse an armed escalation.
After the attack, and the consequent street protests, tensions reignited between the armed groups -supported by Turkey- that control the area and the population, the vast majority of which belongs to the Kurdish minority. The standoff has fueled a power struggle between the various rival armed factions, which claim dominance over different parts of northwestern Syria.
As for Jinderis, the city was in Kurdish hands until 2018, when fighting militias belonging to the pro-Turkish opposition took over the area, currently under their control. The seizure of the city led to the displacement of many Kurds. Those who stayed denounce cases of violence, mistreatment and a climate of discrimination.
Faced with attacks by Jaish al-Sharqiya, local Kurds have asked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which maintains militiamen in the area, for help. For the US and the Western bloc, HTS is a terrorist group due to its historical links to al Qaeda, but for the local (Kurdish) population it is preferable to the Turkish-backed fighting militias. Support also confirmed by the meeting in recent days between relatives of the four victims and the leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani, who promised revenge for the murders, assuring that they would not go unpunished.
Adam Coogle, Human Rights Watch (HRW) deputy director for the Middle East, said that “these deaths follow more than five years of human rights violations carried out by Turkish forces and local Syrian factions” supported by Ankara. “Turkey”, concludes the expert, “has allowed these fighters to abuse with impunity the people who live in the areas under their control, risking becoming de facto accomplices in the violations”.
