Thousands take to the streets in northeast Syria in support of Kurdish-led force

NEWS WIRES

19 December 2024 at 12:47 pm·1-min read

Residents in the northeastern Syrian city of Qamishli took to the streets on Thursday in a demonstration supporting the resistance of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) against the recent attacks by pro-Turkey fighters in the region.

Thousands of people demonstrated Thursday in northeast Syria in support of a US-backed, Kurdish-led force that for weeks has been pushing back against Turkey-backed fighters, an AFP correspondent said.

The show of support for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) comes after Islamist-led rebels toppled Syria’s longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad earlier this month.

A Turkish defence ministry source said Thursday that Ankara would push ahead with military preparations until Kurdish fighters “disarm”.

Demonstrators in Qamishli for the first time raised the three-starred flag adopted by Syria’s new authorities, symbolic of the uprising against Assad's rule that began in 2011, the correspondent said.

“Long live the SDF resistance,” demonstrators chanted, also yelling, “The Syrian people are one” and “No to war in our region, no to Turkey’s attack” on northeast Syria.

Others raised the flag of northeast Syria’s semi-autonomous Kurdish administration, and of the SDF, which spearheaded the fight that defeated Islamic State group jihadists in Syria in 2019.

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