Tag: YPG

Afrin and Northern Syria: weekly News Update

Weekly Bulletin about Developments in Afrin and Northern Syria (30.03.2018 – 05.04.2018)
By | April 6, 2018 ..  illustrations added

Introduction

With the defeat of the IS in Syria and especially after the liberation of Raqqa in October 2017, the Turkish state intensified its threats and attacks on the Democratic Confederation of Northern Syria. On this background the Turkish occupation war on Afrin started on the 20th January 2018 violating international law and the sovereignty of its neighbour country.

The Turkish army has launched this war in cooperation with jihadist groups of the FSA ranks. Many of them are former Al-Qaida or IS members. Since the beginning of March, all districts and the city centre of Afrin had been under heavy bombardments, shelling and drone surveillance by the Turkish army targeting especially civilians.

#BreakSilenceOnAfrin One of the hundreds of former ISIS fighters who fled to Turkey, recruited as “FSA” and now is attacking Afrin together with turks. This is turkey’s war on Kurds.

On March 18th more than 200,000 people left the town centre and were evacuated in order to avoid a physical genocide. Since then the majority of refugees are staying in the Shehba region without security guarantees or international support.

In this new phase, the confrontation between the international powers and their interests is increasing all over Syria.

Last week’s Developments inside Afrin

After 78 days of resistance against Turkish occupation war, hundreds of thousands of people from Afrin Canton are still displaced and facing difficult conditions. The Turkish army and its jihadist allies are implementing ethnic cleansing, assimilation and colonisation policies, making preparations to add the region Afrin de-facto to Turkey’s state territory.

At the same time thousands of jihadists have been transferred from Goutha to Afrin to create demographic changes and install an Islamic-Turkish order.

The resistance of YPG-YPJ forces in the all districts of Canton Afrin carries on, as well as the resistance of the displaced people from Afrin in Sherawa and Shehba region.

Civilians run for cover from explosions in the city of Afrin in northern Syria on March 18, 2018, after Turkish forces and their rebel allies took control of the Kurdish-majority city.

Turkey has extended it threats now towards Til Rifat/Shehba region, Minbij and Shingal. Moreover, the tension between the two blocks Russia-Turkey-Iran and the US lead International Coalition are growing.

War and Humanitarian Situation

The conditions of Afrin’s people displaced in Shehba region are still very precarious and insecure. However, works to build camps and to organised delivery of supplies and humanitarian aid are organised by the Democratic Self-administrations of Northern Syria and the Kurdish Red Crescent. Continue reading “Afrin and Northern Syria: weekly News Update”

Resistance Continues – Open Letter After #WorldAfrinDay + reports

presenationpic31.jpg

The following open letter comes from Internationalist Commune, and addresses those across the globe who took part in #WorldAfrinDay.

We, who are working here in Rojava as internationals, are part of the worldwide fight of the opressed against the reign of state, capital and pathriarchy.

– șehid Hêlîn Qercox

The #WorldAfrinDay has been a historical example of resistance and international solidarity. Thousands took to the streets and stood up against this war, giving their support to the resistance and values of this revolution.

Solidarity came from more than 50 cities from all around the world, and it proved how important what is happening here is for people. New groups and new people are organizing their solidarity, getting involved and defend the revolution. From Canada to Australia, from Mexico to Japan, the world has shown that Afrin is not alone.

For two months, the bombs of the Turkish army have been falling and killing people in Afrin. During these same two months, there have been worldwide actions against this occupation.

And they will continue. Afrin, as the western canton of the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria, will be defended as the beacon of hope that it became, as the source of inspiration that it is. The bottom-up democracy, with women at the forefront building social ecology, is what the capitalist system tries to keep locked up, claiming that ‘there is no alternative’, that utopia is not possible.

But here, we learned that another world is not only possible, but necessary, and it just depends on how much we believe in it, how determined we are to bring this utopia into existence.

Afrin is now under the occupation of the Turkish army. After these months of resistance, to see the occupation forces entering the city may seem like the utopia is going away once again; but no one said the revolution would come around easily.

It was something we had only imagined before coming to Rojava, and witnessing with our own eyes what’s going on here. Today, here, we are taking on several centuries of the capitalist system and nation-state model. We are challenging thousands of years of patriarchal oppression and male rule power. We are challenging the essence of how society itself is perceived and organized. Continue reading “Resistance Continues – Open Letter After #WorldAfrinDay + reports”

Turkish Fascists at Gates of Afrin City as World Powers do nothing

The Turkish occupying forces, with Syrian auxiliary mercenaries, have advanced to the city of Afrîn.
Demonstration in favour of anti racist, anti sectarian, feminist revolution in Afrin
Their air forces, thousands of tanks and heavy artillery from all sides continue to attack with impunity Syrian territory without any opposition from the government of Àssad, a necessary collaborator in the delivery of their own territory, and Russia, a direct accomplice.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has confirmed that Erdogan’s forces are at the entrance to the city.
Erdogan has already announced an ethnic cleansing throughout the area in order to expel the native population and replace it with Arabs and Turkmans currently refugees in Turkey.

The Turkish forces have advanced northward by forcing the Kurdish militias to retreat to prevent the only evacuation being cut off, on the south, into Aleppo.

Sunday saw dozens of demonstrations across Europe demanding an end to Turkey’s war crimes, as NATO jets bombed Afrin’s suburbs where hundreds of thousands of refugees from their invasion have fled. There is little water as Turkey bombed the main reservoir and pumpìng stations.

At least one area has ‘human shields’ in the form of volunteers from Europe ( they were not hit but the bombing continues), and convoys of demonstrators  and SDF military reinforcements are still arriving through Syria.

The defending militias have no air force, tanks or heavy artillery.

see also… When #Afrin falls it will be too late! .. Direct Action Resistance Called against Fascism

#DefendAfrin: Urgent call for mobilization

This is the message that Jacopo, editor of the Infoaut.org portal being based in the Afrin canton since the beginning of the Turkish-Jihadi aggression, delivered to us a short while ago. An urgent call to mobilize and break the silence in front of the worsening of the situation in Afrin.

Originally published by Info Aut.

Note: Enough is Enough is not organizing any of  these events, we are publishing this text for people across the US and Europe to be able to see what is going on and for documentation only.

#DefendAfrin: Urgent call for mobilization

In the latest hours the situation in Afrin became more critical: the invading Turkish army and its allied Jihadi gangs closed in on the city from several sides, in particular from the Shera axis. They are at a 2,5 km distance and directly threaten the city.

The situation inside Afrin is the one still ongoing in these days, then high density of people, many refugees from the villages that found here shelter from war and bombings, lack of water – because, when Jihadis and the Turkish army captured the Meidanki dam, they cut the supply and bombed the pumping stations in other villages. There is also lack of some basic necessities.

Now the concrete risk is that in the next hours there would be an increasingly critical situation and that they would attack the city; even now there are artillery and aerial shellings in the peripheral areas of the city.

The Tev Dem called for a general mobilization, an uprising in every place and square in the world in order to defend Afrin, to stop the ethnic cleansing project that Erdogan and the Jihadi want to implement on Afrin’s populace, to ask for a no fly zone to stop the aerial bombings, that are also the ones producing a massive number of civilian casualties –  if they were to further intensify and arrive to the downtown, they will surely perpetrate a massacre.

These actions are already taking place in many European cities, and in Bashur, too.

womens convoy arrives in beseiged Afrin

What has to be done now is to break the silence of the international community, that is actually conniving with this plan; this is what is asked to be done to all the peoples of the world in order to support Afrin and its populace, to support the revolution in Northern Syria, and then the hope and the example of the revolution of our century for a free and democratic society where many different peoples can live together, also representing a proposal of peace for Syria.

An uprising to defend Afrin, but also to defend a hope for the whole mankind.

Feb. 3, 2018 – Mother (3rd-L), sister (2nd-L) and brother (C) of the late 23-year-old YPJ fighter Barin Kobani, during a mourning ceremony in her honor in Afrin. Delil souleiman / AFP

original en català

L’exèrcit turc és a 2 km de la ciutat d’Efrîn

Les forces ocupants turques, amb mercenaris auxiliars sirians, han avançat sobre la ciutat d’Efrîn. Les seves forces aèries continuen atacant impunement territori sirià sense cap oposició per part del govern d’Àssad, col·laborador necessari en l’entrega del seu propi territori, i de Rússia, còmplice directe. L’Observatori Sirià pels Drets Humans han confirmat que les forces d’Erdogan són a l’entrada de la ciutat.

Erdogan ja ha anunciat una neteja ètnica a tot el cantó per tal d’expulsar la població autòctona i substituir-la per àrabs i turcmans actualment refugiats a Turquia.

Les forces turques han avançat pel nord obligant a les milicies kurdes a replegar-se per evitar que quedés tallada l’única d’evacuació, pel sud, cap a Alep.

Compañero Samuel de Galicia Matado entre otros defendiendo Afrin de los Fascistas

READ IN ENGLISH BELOW

Los combatientes internacionalistas Samuel Prada Leon y Oliver Francois Jean Le Clainche han sido martirizados en Afrin el 10 de febrero, dijo YPG     (última noticia ..El camarada Baran Sason, de Netherland, ha sido martirizado también en la lucha contra ISIS en Deir al-Zor)

ANF  AFRIN  Domingo, 18 de feb.

Según la declaración de YPG, León (nombre de guerra Kendal Breizh) y Le Clainche (nombre de guerra Baran Galicia) fueron asesinados mientras defendían una posición militar contra el ejército turco en el distrito de Jindires el 10 de febrero.

presenationpic18.jpgWar crimes: 200 houses destroyed in a neighborhood of Jindires

YPG también anunció que Sjoerd Heeger (Baran Sason) perdió su vida en Deir ez-Zor mientras luchaba contra ISIS.

Afrin es parte de Rojava donde se desarrolla una revolución secular, feminista y no sectaria única basada en la democracia directa y la renovación ecológica. Turquía debe ser detenida, no podemos permitir que un dictador fascista continúe impulsando su poder avivando la religiosidad y el nacionalismo genocida  ..

La declaración de YPG sobre el tema es la siguiente:

“Mártires caídos de la resistencia de Afrin

uestros compañeros, Kendal Breizh y Baran Galicia, dos de nuestros combatientes internacionalistas, que tomaron su parte al frente de la resistencia histórica contra los ataques fascistas del ejército turco invasor y sus grupos aliados contra el Cantón Afrin, fueron martirizados en los enfrentamientos con los ocupantes en el frente de Jindires el 10 de febrero. Continue reading “Compañero Samuel de Galicia Matado entre otros defendiendo Afrin de los Fascistas”

Afrin: Diary of Turkish Invasion..Detailed SDF Report (8 to 15 February.’18)

update see..   Pro-Assad forces now Help Afrin Revolution against Turkish Terror

The developments of the last week in Afrin  ….  Sat.  Feb. 17, 2018

With the defeat of the IS in Syria and especially after the liberation of Raqqa in October 2017, the Turkish state intensified its threats and attacks against the Democratic Federation of the North of Syria In this context began the Turkish invasion and war against Afrin on January 20, 2018 violating international law and the sovereignty of its neighboring country.

The Turkish army has launched this war in cooperation with jihadist groups from the ranks of the FSA. Many of them are ex members of Al-Qaeda or EI.

(TURKEY HAS  354  LEOPARD TANKS MADE IN GERMANY AND   1690 US MADE TANKS…OVER 2000 IN TOTAL, PLUS A HUGE RANGE OF MODERN NATO EQUIPMENT AND AIR FORCE. IT HAS OVER 500,000 ACTIVE SOLDIERS AND 355,000 RESERVES. Afrin on the other hand has hardly any tanks, volunteer soldiers and no air force THE ENTIRE POPULATION OF AFRIN IS ONLY 200,000 [5]  PLUS ANOTHER 200,000 REFUGEES TAKEN IN FROM THE SYRIAN CIVIL WAR      source Wikipedia)

[1] War and Humanitarian Situation

Since the beginning of the war, those who have suffered the most are Afrin’s civilian population: Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen, Armenians, Ezidis, Alawites, Christians and Muslims. According to hospital staff in Avrin, more than 160 civilians have been killed between January 20, 2018 and February 12, 2018 due to  attacks by the Turkish army and  its associated Jihadist groups of the FSA against the people of Afrin,

Also  480 were injured, including children, women and the elderly.   

Oliver is pictured in the center

(Funeral of British volunteer in the YPG Oliver Hall ..  feb  11, 2018 Oliver Hall, from Portsmouth, was 24 years old.He died on the front d’ar Raqqà (Síria)  when deactivating mines hidden by Islamic State.)

[2. 3. 4]  From 5 to 7 February, the Turkish air forces did not carry out air strikes, although it intensified shelling by artillery. Many schools, centers of democratic self-management such as the Education, Trade and Agriculture Councils, as well as the Heyva Health Center Sister, mosques, cemeteries and hundreds of civil houses have become targets of artillery. Continue reading “Afrin: Diary of Turkish Invasion..Detailed SDF Report (8 to 15 February.’18)”

Turkish Hitler Boasts of killing 712 innocent Kurds

The Turkish state claims the killing of 712 Kurds in ten days

Solidarity urgently requested

via Kurdis Cat, translated from     ypgrojava.orgThe Turkish invading forces in Efrin, Syria, is acting with impunity in the face of the surprising incapacity of the Syrian government and the complicity of the US and Russia. According to the invaders, 712 Kurds of the Yekîneyên Parastinê Gel (Popular Defense Units, YPG) have died. It is estimated that the self-defense militia consists of 8,000 Volunteers in Efrîn. Only yesterday, according to Ankara, his terrorist attacks killed 63 people. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reduces the number to 85 murders by the Erdogan hordes. He has not reported Turkish casualties. Continue reading “Turkish Hitler Boasts of killing 712 innocent Kurds”

Afrin: Erdogan’s Fascist invasion Stalled in Bloodbath on both sides.

”Updated balance of SDFs of Turkish terrorist attacks with 405 deaths up to Saturday, January 27, 2018.” The SDF detail 308 ‘Turkish and mercenary’ and 97 local deaths so far  ” But Erdogan’s invading forces proudly claim to have murdered nearly 500 local people.      

see also..DefendAfrin: Protests in Support of Afrin Sweep Europe

some of the volunteers from the self defense forces killed by the Turkish invasion

from  Forces Democràtiques Sirianes     ”The Central Command of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDR) has issued a STATEMENT on the ongoing confrontations with the Turkish army. In the same he reports that in the last seven days 308 Turkish soldiers and mercenaries, including four officers and a leader of the Turkish bands, died. 54 civilians died and 134 were injured by terrorist attacks by the Turkish army. Finally, 43 SDF combatants lost their lives during the fighting.

(note: the SDF does not normally exaggerate. Sputnik also reported the 308 deaths HERE. The SDF is the multi ethnic revolutionary army that defeated ISIS and includes the YPG/J and  Arab, Christian, Yazidi , Turkmen, International Brigade etc.  ) Continue reading “Afrin: Erdogan’s Fascist invasion Stalled in Bloodbath on both sides.”

Hands Off Afrin: Demos, Support, Appeal, News Updates

Turkish Invasion of Rojava

For the last several years, anarchists, anti-capitalists, and many people on the Left have been supporting the ongoing struggle and evolving movement in Rojava, as an autonomous region in Kurdistan began to take shape, making up parts of Turkey, Syria, and Iraq.

There, both a sea change has taken place in the form of growing support for “Democratic Confederalism,” which embraces many aspect of anarchism, ecology, and feminism, as well as in the fierce resistance by the YPG and the YPJ against ISIS. In the battle against the Islamic State, many anarchists and anti-capitalists have also joined in the struggle and given their lives.

However, after the fall of ISIS in Raqqa, the Turkish state quickly moved to attack the Kurdish forces, and began a campaign of bombing and attacking various cities starting with Afrin.

Does this mean the death of the Rojava Revolution, and with it, a hope of an anti-capitalist and anti-Statist way of life? Will our comrades in the YPG and YPJ, as well as our anarchist sisters and brothers be slaughtered?

How can we act in solidarity with those on the ground? These are hard questions of which we do not have answers, but already people .. are rallying in support of the Kurdish struggle for autonomy and freedom.

Hands off Afrin Solidarity Demonstrations

Friday, Jan 26th, San Francisco, CA

Friday, Jan 26th, Nashville, TN

Friday, Jan 26th, New York City, NY

Saturday, Jan 27th, Los Angeles, CA

Saturday, Jan 27th, Boston, MA

Sunday, Jan 28th, Knoxville, TN

Continue reading “Hands Off Afrin: Demos, Support, Appeal, News Updates”

updated..Turkish Terrorist Erdogan orders Bombing of Afrin in new Outrage

updates…

 Turkish invasion against Efrîn already with 7 dead and 17 injured
on Saturday, January 20, 2018
The Turkish terrorist operation began yesterday January 19 with a low profile. Twenty vehicles transported Idlib Islamists to Kilis across Turkish territory.

In Efrîn it has been raining for days, in spite of this, from Azaz and Al Bab 2 columns of Turkish mercenaries attacked the region of Shehba, located between Manbij and Efrîn. The first ran into the defensive lines of Jaish al Thuwar (JaT, Army of the Revolutionaries). The towns of Hezwan and Ziwan were victims of the attacks of the Erdogan hordes. The mercenaries, however, retired defeated by Jaish in the Thuwar, with support from Jabhat al-Akrad, with 4 dead and 5 wounded. Allied forces pursued and attackedTurkish positions in Mare and El Bab.

A second Turkish column attacked the villages of Şexaqi and Tiwes, north-east of Bab. Erdogan’s mercenaries withdrew with two dead and 12 injured.

The artillery attacks on Efrîn continue (and air attacks begin)The Turkish terrorist bombs fell on the civil zones of Rajo, Sherawa, Bilbile and Shiye, in the Kurdish corner, and Herbel, Um El-Hosh and Tel Rifa’at, in the north of Aleppo.

International academics: “An attack against the peaceful citizens of Efrîn is a flagrant act of aggression against a region and a peaceful and democratically governed population”
to Saturday, January 20, 2018


We, the undersigned academics and human rights activists, demand that the leaders of Russia, Iran and the United States ensure that Turkey does not break the sovereignty of the Syrian borders and that the people of Efrîn in Syria can live in peace.

In Efrîn, the mostly Kurdish population, is one of the most stable and secure regions in Syria. With very little international help, Efrîn has hosted so many Syrian refugees in the last five years that its population has doubled to 400,000. Efrîn is now surrounded by enemies: jihadist groups backed by Turkey, al-Qaeda and Turkey itself. Continue reading “updated..Turkish Terrorist Erdogan orders Bombing of Afrin in new Outrage”

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