ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdish-led administration in northeast Syria (Rojava) on Thursday accused armed factions affiliated with the Damascus interim government of “deliberately and systematically” violating the ceasefire in the region east of the Euphrates and “escalating brutal attacks on civilians.”
In a statement, the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES) said that “armed factions affiliated with the transitional government in Damascus continue, deliberately and systematically, to violate the ceasefire agreement by escalating their brutal attacks on civilians and our populated areas, particularly in the city of Kobane and the Jazira region,” east of the Euphrates, which spans most of the provinces of Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, and Hasaka.
Affirming its “full and unequivocal commitment to the declared ceasefire and its constant concern for sparing the blood of our people and preserving stability and security in the region,” DAANES warned that the symbolic city of Kobane is experiencing “a fully fledged war crime,” rather than “merely a military assault.”
Kobane holds deep significance for the Kurdish community. In 2014, the city became the focal point of a brutal assault by the Islamic State (ISIS), which at the time controlled vast swathes of territory across Syria and Iraq.
In mid-September 2014, ISIS militants seized village after village, tightening their grip around Kobane and forcing thousands of civilians to flee into neighboring Turkey.
With support from the US-led Global Coalition against ISIS and reinforcements from Kurdistan Region Peshmerga forces, the People’s Protection Units (YPG) ultimately repelled the militants in January 2015. The victory marked ISIS’s first major military defeat and propelled Kobane into global headlines as a powerful symbol of resistance against extremism.
Kobane is "today left without water, electricity, or basic services as a result of ongoing attacks on its infrastructure, the latest of which was the cutting of the internet network and isolating it from the outside world," the DAANES said.
The Kurdish-led administration added that the campaign against the Kurdish people in regions east of the Euphrates "is a systematic war of annihilation, aimed at breaking the will of our people and eliminating their achievements."
The DAANES thus held "the attacking parties fully responsible for the consequences of this dangerous escalation," while also urging the international community and the US-led coalition to "intervene urgently and immediately to stop these assaults and put an end to the war crimes being committed against civilians."