[Vredeslijst] State of Syrian revolution and Kurdish struggle as Aleppo faces bloody siege

[Jeff]

The assault on Aleppo
February 25, 2016 by Leila Al Shami	
https://leilashami.wordpress.com/2016/02/25/the-assault-on-aleppo

The questions for this interview 
were written by the authors of
Syria: The Stolen Revolution.

 
We are currently witnessing what looks like the 
crushing of anti-Assad rebellion forces. The Aleppo 
battle seems to be a turning point in Syria’s 
civil war before a general confrontation with 
ISIS occurs. In your opinion do rebel forces still 
shelter components of the revolutionary Syrian 
movement? Or are they nowadays reduced to sunni 
confessional militias, supported by Turkey and 
Saudi Arabia?

Anti Assad rebels in north Aleppo are now facing a relentless assault by 
Russians from the air and an Iranian backed ground force comprised of 
various sectarian militias. This has transformed their struggle against a 
fascist regime into a national liberation struggle. The Russian Air Force 
has decimated civilian infrastructure in the province. The main rebel supply 
route from Turkey has been severed. The rebels are surrounded in the Azaz 
corridor by regime allied militias, Daesh and the Kurdish YPG.
If Aleppo is besieged up to 300,000 people will be cut off from the outside 
world. Tens of thousands have fled the city. As well as crushing the armed 
resistance the Assad regime and its imperial backers are carrying out a 
deliberate and systematic policy to depopulate the liberated areas of Syria.
When we talk of ‘liberated areas’ it’s more than just rhetoric. Under threat 
in Aleppo are the different local councils which ensure the governance of 
each area and have kept providing services to the local population in the 
absence of the state. We are talking about more than 100 civil society 
organizations (the second largest concentration of active civil society 
groups anywhere in the country). These include some 28 free media groups, 
women’s organizations and emergency and relief organizations such as the 
Civil Defense Force. It also includes educational organizations such as Kesh 
Malek which provides non-ideological education for children, often in 
people’s basements, to ensure school continues under bombardment. Under 
Assad’s totalitarian state, independent civil society was non-existent and 
no independent media sources existed. But in Free Aleppo democracy is being 
practiced as the people themselves self-organize and run their communities. 
This for me represents the original goals of the revolutionary movement.

The armed militias in the north Aleppo area include 
both the Free Army and Islamists. The Islamists 
represent the conservative culture of rural Aleppo. 
They are comprised primarily of Aleppo’s sons, 
brothers and fathers. They have strong local support 
and men and women have taken the streets in recent 
days calling for rebel unity to defend Free Aleppo 
from this fascist onslaught.

The rebels receive tepid support from the US, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. 
Nothing until now has made a real difference on the ground such as providing 
the rebels with the anti-aircraft weapons they desperately need. This is 
changing with Turkey’s military intervention. But Turkey’s intervention is 
primarily designed to prevent the establishment of a Kurdish state along its 
border. It has not intervened solely to protect the Azaz corridor, but is 
shelling civilians and uprooting olive trees in Afrin. No state is 
intervening to defend the popular struggle but rather to defend its own 
interests and those of its elites.


What is the current situation in the eastern Ghouta 
and in the rebel controlled zones in the south?

The eastern Ghouta is also under relentless attack. Assad and Russian forces 
have targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure such as schools, 
hospitals and market places. Over 160,000 people are trapped under regime 
siege in desperate conditions. Some authoritarian rebel groups have also 
been accused of stealing and hoarding food, contributing further to the 
people’s suffering. But despite these challenges the people of the Eastern 
Ghouta have practiced communal solidarity in the most creative and practical 
ways and kept life functioning. They’ve dug wells for water supply, set up 
solar power and recycled methane from waste to provide an alternative energy 
supply. They’ve operated makeshift hospitals and schools and grown food 
(often roof-top gardens) to fend off starvation. Since the beginning of this 
year two towns in the eastern Ghouta, Erbin and Zamalka, have held 
democratic elections for their local council.

The rebels in the south are under a lot of pressure at the moment and the 
regime, under cover of Russian airstrikes, has made strategic gains around 
Deraa. Most hospitals and clinics in east Deraa are now out of service due 
to bombardment. The Deraa provincial council reports that more than 80,000 
people have fled their homes to seek refugee deeper in rebel-held territory 
or have moved towards the Jordanian border which is closed. The south of the 
country is held mainly by the Southern Front, a coalition of over 50 Free 
Army groups with a secular, democratic agenda which have largely refused to 
cooperate with extremist Islamist groups. The Southern Front receives 
support via Jordan which has been reducing assistance to the group in recent 
weeks, under US pressure, to get rebels to focus their fight on Daesh (even 
though there’s little Daesh presence in the south) rather than the regime.


How would you interpret YPG/PYD strategy? Do you 
think there will be a final armed confrontation 
between the Kurds and the Baathist regime, or 
do you think Russians, Iranians, Kurds and Baathists 
have a shared vision of the future of Syria? In 
other words, is there a general agreement on land 
and power sharing within the former borders?

In the case of the Kurds, key regime figures have said they will not accept 
Kurdish autonomy in the north. Concessions given to the PYD by the regime so 
far should be seen as tactical. But it now looks as if the PYD has turned to 
Russia as its protector. And for Russia an alliance with the PYD is a useful 
tool in its fight against Turkey. The PYD has at times entered into 
strategic alliances with the regime, but the YPG has also fought the regime. 
It’s alliances are solely pragmatic in maintaining control over the north. 
If Arab resistance forces are neutralized, it’s possible that Assad will 
turn his attention to destroying Kurdish autonomy. Whether Russia and the US 
(allied with the YPG) allow this to happen remains to be seen.

The Russians, Iranians and the regime realize that Assad will be unable to 
reassert his control over large parts of the country which he has already 
lost. It’s possible there will be a partition of Syria and the imposition of 
mini states along sectarian lines. In areas which the regime and its allies 
hope to control, we are witnessing the ethnic cleansing of Sunni 
(oppositional) communities and their repopulation with communities loyal to 
the regime and its allies. When the regime took over Homs, the land registry 
was destroyed and Alawites moved into vacant Sunni homes. The assault on 
Zabadani and crippling siege on Madaya by the regime and Hizbullah are 
designed to force Sunni inhabitants to leave the area. It’s feared that 
Lebanese and Iraqi Shia militia members and their families will be resettled 
there. Iran and Hizbullah’s involvement is to maintain the strategic link 
from Iran to Lebanon which runs through Damascus (and Baghdad) and is fueled 
by sectarianism. As for Russia, deals have already been made to hand over 
Syria’s energy sector to Russian companies. Both Iran and Russia see Syria 
as a key battle ground in their geo-political struggles with Saudi Arabia 
and the West respectively.


Do you perceive the unification of Rojava’s canton 
(Afrin, Kobane, Jazira), its political and social 
system, and the creation of Syrian Democratic 
Forces (multi-ethnic and multi-confessional – 
YPG ruled) as a democratic alternative to the 
regime [returning]?

It’s not a ‘democratic’ alternative but it’s an alternative. The 
Self-Administration is monopolized by the PYD. Those Kurds that oppose the 
PYD have been silenced, imprisoned, tortured and assassinated. The PYD has 
now moved beyond the idea of democratic confederalism (democracy without the 
state) – an idea which I strongly support – towards attempts to carve out a 
new state through linking the cantons. This includes its expansionist turn 
to take over Arab majority areas under cover of Russian airstrikes. The 
Syrian Democratic Forces aren’t an alternative to the regime. Dominated by 
the YPG and including some minor Arab forces, they were established to gain 
the support of the US led coalition in the fight against Daesh only.

Kurds have suffered decades of systematic oppression at the hands of Arabist 
(and Turkish nationalist) regimes and their struggle for self-determination 
should be supported. Inspiring examples of self-organization and direct 
democracy have occurred on the community level through the communes 
established in towns and villages across Rojava. Kurdish youth are filled 
with libertarian spirit and all Syrians can learn from the ideas which are 
spreading across the north. My main fears are that this will be undone in 
the end by PYD authoritarianism and that Arab-Kurdish ethnic conflict will 
break out. If ethnic conflict breaks out it will be a result of three 
factors: the attempt of the Syrian regime to destroy any Arab-Kurdish 
alliance which emerged during the revolution; the failure of Arab opposition 
leaders to stand fully behind the Kurdish struggle for self-determination; 
and the actions of the PYD and extremist Islamist militias. All Syrians will 
loose in such a scenario.


Do you consider the Rojava cantons a safe place 
for Syrian political and revolutionary opponents 
to shelter? Or is exile still the only way to 
escape dictatorship?

Because of the current practices of the PYD the Rojava cantons aren’t a safe 
place for political and revolutionary groups operating independently of the 
PYD.

Afrin has welcomed some families fleeing Aleppo. But it’s unlikely the 
cantons will allow large numbers of Arabs to seek safety on their territory 
incase they upset the demographic balance. The countries surrounding Syria 
have closed their borders except in exceptional cases. Many people simply do 
not have the option of leaving and do not have any place to go.


Do you think the US and Russia agree on focusing 
the war on ISIS and that occidental powers are 
abandoning the opposition forces to Bashar and 
finally isolating Erdogan?

In terms of the regime the Russian and US positions were never very 
different – no one wanted to see it dismantled. It was about Assadism with 
Assad (Russian position) or Assadism without Assad (the US position). What’s 
changed is that now neither are calling for Assad to go.

In terms of fighting Daesh – rhetorically they both agree that this is their 
main focus. But as we have seen, very few of the airstrikes carried out by 
Russia have been on Daesh, but rather on the resistance militias fighting 
the regime and Daesh too. It must not be forgotten that the Free Army which 
is now being decimated and the (former) Islamic Front have been the most 
effective force on the ground at fighting Daesh – pushing them out of large 
parts of northern and eastern Syria in 2014 – before Daesh came back in 
force with the heavy weaponry it seized in Iraq and US support was given to 
the Syrian Democratic Forces. It appears the US has abandoned the rebels, 
even though it never truly supported them beyond applying pressure to force 
Assad to the negotiation table – a strategy which failed. The results of 
this will only be the strengthening of Daesh and other extremist groups like 
the Al-Qaeda affiliated Jabhat Al Nusra.  The US has not been responsive to 
Turkish concerns and proposals in Syria (such as arming the Free Army and 
establishing a safe zone) it has been more accommodating to Iran than its 
traditional allies – Turkey and Saudi. Alliances are currently interwoven 
among opposing interests and in flux.

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Also see:

Bloody Counterrevolution in Aleppo: on Russian Blitzkrieg and US “betrayal”
by Michael Karadjis
February 18, 2016
https://mkaradjis.wordpress.com/2016/02/18/bloody-counterrevolution-in-aleppo-on-russian-blitzkrieg-and-us-betrayal/