ON MONDAY morning came the devastating news that an Italian YPG volunteer, Lorenzo “Orso” Orsetti, had been killed by an Isis ambush in Baghouz, the small town on the Deir Ezzor front where the remnants of the Isis caliphate are surrounded.
Orsetti, also known by his nom-de-guerre Tekoser Piling, had been in northern Syria since September 2017 when he travelled from his hometown in Florence, Tuscany to defend the revolution in Rojava led by the Kurds in northern Syria, one he described as “the most beautiful revolution in the world,” “the closest thing I’ve ever found to my ideals and it is a pleasure and an honour to take part.”Clarifying his motivation for taking up arms in Rojava, he said that it wasn’t because he liked war or wanted fame, that he didn’t have any mystifications or delusions, simply that “freedom cannot exist without taking risks.”
According to countless stories, Orso (“bear” in Italian) was an incredibly brave and selfless fighter, and whilst he always impressed on friends and comrades the need to act in an altruistic manner in his dispatches from the front line, he never boasted or exalted his own activity.
He never even told people how, whilst fighting in the hills of Afrin against the Turkish/FSA invasion in spring 2018, with defeat in sight, he refused to be evacuated with the rest of his internationalist unit, insisting on staying with the civilians to defend them from the invasion at huge risk to himself until civilians themselves were evacuated.
Fighting in the hills of Afrin in incredibly difficult conditions surrounded by jihadists and bombarded day and night by Turkey’s air force (equipped by both Britain and Italy), his dispatches from the front line sounded like epic tales of guerilla warfare from the partisan resistance, swapping the olive tree-filled mountains between Florence and Bologna for those of the north-west Syrian Kurdish enclave.
Orso came from a very ordinary family in Rifredi, a working-class neighbourhood in Florence filled with monuments and plaques to the anti-fascist partisans, many of whom hailed from the area in which he grew up. Bored by successive menial service jobs, mainly as a waiter and chef, he looked to Rojava as an escape from the drudgery and trappings of individualistic capitalist society. Continue reading “Orso killed by ISIS.. But Lives Always in our Hearts”
Many organizations and groups around the world followed the call of the Internationalist Commune of Rojava, to defend the revolution in Rojava. We want to share some of the events, that will happen in this global days of actions. More will come…
New: Stockholm (Sweden)
Protest: Monday 28. January, 4pm
Olof Palmes gata 17, SE-111 22 Stockholm, Sverige
SAAB’s head office in Stockholm
„No Support For Erdogan“
New: Malmö (Sweden)
Protest: Monday 28. January, 12pm
Rönnviksgatan 13, SE-213 74 Malmö, Sverige
„No Support For Erdogan“
With the spectacular betrayal and defeat of the two main militias in the Turkish paid NFL coalition the Al Qaeda (HTS) administration has taken control of the province of Idlib, which right now is an Al Qaeda sharia regime state, sponsored by Turkey.
While the western media were entertained with the Erdogan/Trump daily pantomime no one seemed to notice that the Tutkish paid mercenaries sent to the Manbij border to ”bury, plunder, rape and occupy”the Rojava Revolution were mainly recently recruited NFL jihadis from Idlib, and not Erdogan’s FSA terrorists still busy destroying Afrin.
The good news is that in future Erdogan’s other mercenaries, the FSA, will be wary about him sending them to invade and plunder Rojava…
Their weapons were seized and no other faction or their Turkish sponsors helping or supporting them. According to the Lebanese al-Mayadeen TV, more than 200 militants and 20 civilians were killed during the battle between HTS and the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement. Nour al-Din al-Zenki suffered total defeat at the hands of HTS and lost all of its areas in western Aleppo.
Next in line were the biggest faction of the Turkish NFL jihadis, Ahrar al-Sham , who were defeated by Al Qaeda in just 3 days.
Mekut@Mekut_Mallet Leader of Syrian branch of al-Qa’ida (rebranded HTS), known as abu-Muhammad al-Jolani, supports Turkey in attacking Syrian Kurds. The Islamofascist axis AKP//HTS/ISIS has been planning to subjugate or exterminate Kurds and others who stand in their way. #Turkey#alQaeda#HTS
Then Erdogan forced the demoralised NFL facrions to sign the agreement giving administrative control to Al Qaeda/HTS, as many fled into the already terrorist infested Turkish occupied Afrin
So to cut a long story short Al Qaeda has triumphed and is expanding out of Idlib into Hama, Aleppo and Lattakia, leaving Assad and the Russians a bit confused.
Opposition websites agree that Turkey has cynically and murderously betrayed and destroyed its own paid allies, Al Zenki and Ahrar al-Sham, opening the door to a general attack by Syria/SAA and Russia on Al Qaeda/HTS (because all sides have labelled HTS as terrorists while the Turkish backed groups had some defense).
Was Erdogan wrong footed by Trump’s sudden withdrawal declarations into sending his mercenaries into a trap? ??
Maybe yes this was what happened, it was important perhaps for Turkey to make the preparations to attack Rojava real and concrete . One report suggested they hoped to get the vital ‘airspace bombing permission’ for a new invasion from the US and Russians by appearing that the invasion was going ahead anyway.
But things are never as they seem .. Some very suspicious circumstances..
Turkey apparently sent its untried NFL mercenaries from Idlib to attack Rojava via Manbij instead of its established FSA terrorist army.
Opposition websites agree that Turkey has cynically and murderously betrayed and destroyed its own paid allies, Al Zenki and Ahrar al-Sham.
The ‘huge buildup of Turkish tanks and NATO war material, linked to the threat to ”bury” the Kurds, seems to be more on the Idlib/Hatay border, far from Kobani/Rojava.
Turkey has a thriving business with Idlib in the laughably named ‘demilitarized Zone’ (DMZ) via the Hatay/Turkey border. Al Qaeda/HTS is now a far-right religious administration with its own social services.
Turkey has expanded its ten bases in the Idlib ‘DMZ’ but made no effort to enforce the terms of the agreement.
Erdogan is supplying arms to his mercenaries (now seized by Al Qaeda HTS) but also all kinds of supplies, international aid, and trade, all taxed by the Al Qaeda/HTS regime which controls road access here and elsewhere.
NFL mercenaries have been complaining recently in online comments that their pay has been cut (partly caused by the collapse of the Turkish Lira in which they are paid). One comment claimed ”Turkey is paying double to Al Qaeda/HTS militants” causing mass defection of desperately poor rebels.
So what will happen next?
Perhaps Turkey will now defend Idlib as a client state, hoping it will be one more jewel in the racist, misogynist, jihadist ‘New Ottoman Empire’.
Reports suggest the Al Qaeda takeover has caused fear in Idlib of an all out attack by the massive SAA Syrian army which is entrenched around the east and south of the area.
The chorus of demands, no doubt orchestrated by Turkey, is resuming, asking that the Turkish army intervene to stop the ‘evil Assadis’ committing ‘a shocking massacre of civilians’ with their ‘poison gas attacks’.
An agreed invasion or ‘increase on troops to enforce the DMZ agreement’ could make Idlib forever a Turkish Empire protectorate, and set the stage for the ”cleansing” of Rojava where Turkey promises to ”bury the Kurds in their ditches”.
Erdogan already has 10 bases in Idlib. He, or his script writing team, are experts in threats and blackmail, (put the words ‘Erdogan Threatens’ in google and you find many pages of threats!) with ”leverage” over Russia due to key pipelines, nuclear and arms sales, etc. Leverage over Syria as he already occupies and is ‘turkifying’ Afrin, Jarablus, Azaz and Al Bab. Turkey also has blackmail ammunition over the EU with the oft repeated threat to let loose a new flood of refugees. And over the US with the threat of leaving NATO, cancelling arms agreements, etc.
Hopefully despite all the threats and Machiavellian maneuvering, Erdogan’s plans will come unstuck again. But the increasing evidence that Turkey sacrificed its own supposedly ‘moderate’ mercenary allies to be wiped out by Al Qaeda show again what level of War Criminals are at work.
12/01/2019.. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham continues to expand its influence within the Idlib de-escalation zone. Now, the target is northern Lattakia.
Jailed Kurdish opposition politician Leyla Güven has reached a critical condition and has been unable to see her lawyer for four days due to health problems caused by her long-running hunger strike, Turkish news site Diken reported.
Güven, who is both the co-chair of the Democratic Society Congress, an umbrella organisation for Kurdish groups, and a deputy for the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), is imprisoned pending trial in Diyarbakır, south-east Turkey after being arrested in January 2018 for criticising Turkey’s military operation against Kurdish militias in northwest Syria.
The Kurdish deputy is one of nine from the HDP who are currently held behind bars in Turkey, including the party’s former co-chair, Selahattin Demirtaş. The party is particularly vulnerable to prosecution due to perceived links tying it to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an outlawed group that has fought Turkish security forces for Kurdish self-rule since the 1980s.
Day 68 of Leyla Güven’s Hunger Strike in Turkish prison. Her health has rapidly deteriorated & is now at life threatening stage. Silence is no longer viable, in fact, it is complicity at this stage. #LeylaGuven< Morning Star@M_Star
Together we will make 27 and 28 January two days of global resistance against Turkish fascism. Together we will intervene in the numbing routine of war and oppression, expressing our solidarity with various forms of action. Together we will show that this revolution is not alone!
Let us stand shoulder to shoulder against fascism!
Long live the international solidarity!
The revolution in Rojava will be victorious! Fascism will be crushed!
The SDF conquer 35% of Hajin with heavy losses
Wednesday, December 12, 2018 The northern part of the city, including the hospital, has been conquered by the Syrian Democratic Forces, (SDF) after fighting throughout the week.
Turkey suffered heavy losses on Thursday during its invasion of Afrin with the military announcing that eight soldiers were killed and admitting 13 more wounded. The defenders reported 33 more deaths among the hired FSA mercenaries used by the Turkish state.
The day’s toll brings the number of Turkish soldiers killed since the launch of operation “Olive Branch” to at least 40.
The private Dogan news agency reported that intense fighting had broken out in the afternoon between invadingTurkish special forces units recently deployed in Afrin and YPG members, who mounted an ambush with the help of tunnels.
According to the report a Turkish helicopter sent to rescue the wounded had to turn back after being hit, while the area was shelled to allow the Turkish forces to flee.. the Kurdish forces damaged aCobra helicopter and destroyed at least two Turkish military vehicles in the Reco district on Thursday.A member of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) takes part in a demonstration alongside Syrian-Kurds in the town of AmudaCredit: AFP
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was informed of the incident during a visit to Senegal.
The defenders admitted that twenty-three YPG / YPJ fighters have died in the battles over the last 24 hours in Reco. Two columns of a hundred militiamen stormed in surprise the Turkish pro positions in response to the helicopter attack against Kurdish positions.
HoweverTurkish aviation, with Russian and Syrian flight permission and using NATO equipment, detected the tunnel where they fell back and performed a massacre.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said an operation to begin liberating the city had already begun, coordinated with a US-led military coalition.”We declare today the start of the great battle to liberate the city of Raqqa, the so-called capital of terrorism and terrorists,” SDF spokesman Telal Silo, Turkmen Seljuk Brigade member, told reporters in the village of Hazima, north of the city.
“With the international coalition’s warplanes and the state-of-the-art weapons they provided to us, we will seize Raqqa from Daesh.”He asked civilians inside the city to keep away from IS positions and from the front lines. IS has been fortifying the city ahead of the coming assault, setting up barriers and covering the street to hide fighters from aircraft overhead.SDF leades announce start of Raqqa campaign
On Friday the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) agreed to resume the ‘Wrath of the Euphrates’ campaign against the ISIS HQ in Raqqa, departing from Tall Saman which they captured in November. Currently the forefront of the democratic forces led by the YPG / YPJ is 30 km from Ar Raqqah, capital of fundamentalist Syria.The Turkish invasion with their FSA jihadists mercenaries in the west of Al Bab and north of Manbij cautioned the SDF not to continue the advance on ar-Raqqah, (see SDF will halt Raqqa operation if Turkey does not stop attacking Manbij). Hopefully they now have guarantees that Turkey will be restrained.
Clarifying his motivation for taking up arms in Rojava, he said that it wasn’t because he liked war or wanted fame, that he didn’t have any mystifications or delusions, simply that “freedom cannot exist without taking risks.”
He never even told people how, whilst fighting in the hills of Afrin against the Turkish/FSA invasion in spring 2018, with defeat in sight, he refused to be evacuated with the rest of his internationalist unit, insisting on staying with the civilians to defend them from the invasion at huge risk to himself until civilians themselves were evacuated.
Fighting in the hills of Afrin in incredibly difficult conditions surrounded by jihadists and bombarded day and night by Turkey’s air force (equipped by both Britain and Italy), his dispatches from the front line sounded like epic tales of guerilla warfare from the partisan resistance, swapping the olive tree-filled mountains between Florence and Bologna for those of the north-west Syrian Kurdish enclave.
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SDF leades announce start of Raqqa campaign
The Free 