ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Protests erupted across the Kurdistan Region and abroad on Monday as Kurds rallied in support of northeast Syria (Rojava), where renewed fighting, alleged abuses by Damascus-affiliated forces, and fears of a humanitarian catastrophe have fueled anger toward the United States and calls for Kurdish unity.
A large crowd gathered in front of the US consulate in Erbil, with demonstrators condemning Washington’s stance amid the escalating violence in Rojava.
“Our message is the US consulate, we gave 30,000 martyrs in Rojava in the fight against terrorist… to be abandoned now,” a man said in front of the consulate while waving a Kurdistan flag, his daughter seated on his shoulders.
The demonstrations come after Damascus-affiliated factions launched a wide-scale offensive early this month, overtaking large portions of territory held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
A young man from Rojava’s symbolic city of Kobane addressed the US consulate, saying “the fascist Jolani must stop the conflict.”
Abu Mohammed al-Jolani is the nom de guerre of Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led the extremist Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militia that overthrew Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
The Syrian Arab Army and Damascus-affiliated forces have continued their attacks on Rojava despite a US-brokered ceasefire signed between SDF chief Mazloum Abdi and Sharaa. Foza Alyusuf, a senior member of northeast Syria’s ruling Democratic Union Party (PYD), told Rudaw on Monday that the meeting was not positive, accusing the transitional government of seeking to dismantle Kurdish self-rule and opposing Kurdish rights.
In Sulaimani’s southern Kalar district, a Peshmerga fighter addressed a crowd, saying, “We want to be with our brothers in arms, in heart, in soul.”
He called on Kurdistan Region leaders “to go to the rescue of our brothers in Rojava as before,” prompting repeated chants of “Bji [long live] Peshmerga.”
Areas around Kobane and its southern countryside are facing mounting pressure from Damascus-affiliated forces. ISIS attacked Kobane in 2014, invading parts of the city, but the SDF - with support from the US-led global coalition and Peshmerga forces from the Kurdistan Region - liberated the city months later.
The battle marked ISIS’s first major military defeat and propelled Kobane into global headlines as a symbol of resistance against extremism.
Now, the city is besieged by Damascus-affiliated forces and on the brink of a humanitarian disaster, with food and water supplies expected to run out within days, Kobane-based economic expert Mustafa Khalil told Rudaw.
Amid the fighting, the SDF on Monday called on young Kurds in Rojava and Kurdish communities in Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and Europe to “unite” and “join the resistance.”
Beyond the Kurdistan Region, demonstrations in support of Rojava Kurds were also held in Turkey, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands.
Near the US consulate in Erbil, a man from Rojava’s Hasaka province urged preeminent Kurdish leader President Masoud Barzani “to allow Peshmerga to go” to Rojava, as they did in 2014.