Some comrades asked for a short list of the main acronyms we are using (the list is growing):
SAA: Syrian Arab Army, army of the Syrian Arab Republic goverment
HTS: Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, main Islamist opposition coalition, salafists that western media likes to call 'moderate rebels'.
SDF: Syrian Democratic Forces, military coalition of defense forces in Rojava
SNA: Syrian National Army, Islamist Turkish proxy forces
FSA: Free Syrian Army, old name that was used as an umbrella for opposition groups against Assad
MMC: Manbij Military council, local military branch integrated in SDF in Manbij
SSG: Syrian Salvation Government, political front of HTS
SIG: Syrian Interim Government: political front for SNA aligned with Turkey
DAANES: Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, political body in cooperation with SDF
IDF: Israel Defense Forces, Israel army
SAA: Syrian Arab Army, army of the Syrian Arab Republic goverment
HTS: Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, main Islamist opposition coalition, salafists that western media likes to call 'moderate rebels'.
SDF: Syrian Democratic Forces, military coalition of defense forces in Rojava
SNA: Syrian National Army, Islamist Turkish proxy forces
FSA: Free Syrian Army, old name that was used as an umbrella for opposition groups against Assad
MMC: Manbij Military council, local military branch integrated in SDF in Manbij
SSG: Syrian Salvation Government, political front of HTS
SIG: Syrian Interim Government: political front for SNA aligned with Turkey
DAANES: Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, political body in cooperation with SDF
IDF: Israel Defense Forces, Israel army
Last minute updates
- Heavy clashes ongoing between SDF and SNA on Qereqozaq bridge connecting Manbij and Kobane right now. Threats of attacks on Kobane tonight.
- SDF left Deir Ezzor city allowing operations room of HTS to take control of the city. It also include the border crossing of Albukamal and the al-taym oil field in the Deir Ezzor desert. At the same time SDF announced their readiness to dialog with the provisional government.
- It is confirmed that the bombings that took place in Qamishlo yesterday was not conducted by Israel air force but by Turkey air force.
Revolutionary greetings! 🖤
- Heavy clashes ongoing between SDF and SNA on Qereqozaq bridge connecting Manbij and Kobane right now. Threats of attacks on Kobane tonight.
- SDF left Deir Ezzor city allowing operations room of HTS to take control of the city. It also include the border crossing of Albukamal and the al-taym oil field in the Deir Ezzor desert. At the same time SDF announced their readiness to dialog with the provisional government.
- It is confirmed that the bombings that took place in Qamishlo yesterday was not conducted by Israel air force but by Turkey air force.
Revolutionary greetings! 🖤
Updates 11-12-2024
# Ongoing situation
- The interim government of HTS is slowly formalizing their power, making interviews in western suits and staging press conferences declaring "Our goal is to restore security and stability to all Syrian cities and return millions of Syrian refugees".
- Israel continue their bombing campaign, with more than 400 targets hit. They announced destruction of 80% of military capabilities of Syria. The IDF occupation (“security zone”) is growing every day, expanding alongside the Lebanon border, with tanks now at 20 km from Damascus.
- SOHR reports attacks of violent masked men in Latakia and Damascus outskirts. Videos spread in social networks with masked military teams storming towns, mainly of christian population. Some videos show al-Nusra flags being waved by the attackers.
# Turkey and SNA offensive
- Turkish air force bombs several villages around Kobane city, including Lafarge cement plant and Mishtenur. Some reports indicate that SNA fighters (with turkish air support) are crossing the Qereqozah bridge to start ground attacks on Kobane, but in the last hours very few information is arriving, probably due to internet restrictions.
- Turkey also bombed the Assayish headquarters of the Raqqa, this is the first airstrike in Raqqa city since 2017, when SDF liberated it from ISIS. US coalition forces moved some troops inside the city after the strike.
- Videos of the brutalities of SNA in the territories they occupy from SDF are spreading in social networks. Their channels are going full of videos were they record themselves torturing and killing, with calls to “kill all the kurds” and other anti-kurdish statements.
- Bombings alongside the M4 and Til Temir front lines are also increasing every day, with drones, mortars and rockets hitting different points, as close to the city as the village of Til Cuma at just 2 kilometers of Til Temir.
# Other related updates
- Turkey is opening borders to let Syrians return to Syria as “voluntary return”, making them sign a document that don’t allow them to return to Turkey. Several European countries are also discussing about the situation for Syrians to return, with narratives dominated by far-right parties.
- Rojava Information Center is also working on daily updates, with verified information and reports from different areas of NES. Read their report of 10-12-24 here: https://rojavainformationcenter.org/2024/12/update-escalation-in-nes/
# Analysis
HTS is now busy making itself more presentable to western audiences, hoping to gain official legitimacy throw capturing the Syrian state structure. Western powers are going along with that, and no one is putting much attention to the small scale attacks that their rogue islamist groups are doing. The DAANES is holding talks with them, accepting them as provisional government for now, hoping to halt Turkish offensive and work towards a federal Syria that respects regional autonomy.
Turkey is moving further in their attacks, striking as far as Raqqa, making a bold statement that they are ready to defy US red lines in order to achieve their aims. The SNA soldiers are recording and spreading videos of the horrendous crimes they are committing as part of their psychological warfare, evoking the behavior of ISIS. This is not a coincidence, several ISIS fighters have been reported to be now holding command positions inside different factions of SNA.
Israel is moving further into Syria, defying even the UN that called to not push forward. With Russia and Iran losing all their influence on Syria, Israel and Turkey (strategic NATO allies, Turkey being formal member of the military alliance) are taking advantage of the situation to advance their imperialist agendas, indirectly supporting each other in their occupations.
# Ongoing situation
- The interim government of HTS is slowly formalizing their power, making interviews in western suits and staging press conferences declaring "Our goal is to restore security and stability to all Syrian cities and return millions of Syrian refugees".
- Israel continue their bombing campaign, with more than 400 targets hit. They announced destruction of 80% of military capabilities of Syria. The IDF occupation (“security zone”) is growing every day, expanding alongside the Lebanon border, with tanks now at 20 km from Damascus.
- SOHR reports attacks of violent masked men in Latakia and Damascus outskirts. Videos spread in social networks with masked military teams storming towns, mainly of christian population. Some videos show al-Nusra flags being waved by the attackers.
# Turkey and SNA offensive
- Turkish air force bombs several villages around Kobane city, including Lafarge cement plant and Mishtenur. Some reports indicate that SNA fighters (with turkish air support) are crossing the Qereqozah bridge to start ground attacks on Kobane, but in the last hours very few information is arriving, probably due to internet restrictions.
- Turkey also bombed the Assayish headquarters of the Raqqa, this is the first airstrike in Raqqa city since 2017, when SDF liberated it from ISIS. US coalition forces moved some troops inside the city after the strike.
- Videos of the brutalities of SNA in the territories they occupy from SDF are spreading in social networks. Their channels are going full of videos were they record themselves torturing and killing, with calls to “kill all the kurds” and other anti-kurdish statements.
- Bombings alongside the M4 and Til Temir front lines are also increasing every day, with drones, mortars and rockets hitting different points, as close to the city as the village of Til Cuma at just 2 kilometers of Til Temir.
# Other related updates
- Turkey is opening borders to let Syrians return to Syria as “voluntary return”, making them sign a document that don’t allow them to return to Turkey. Several European countries are also discussing about the situation for Syrians to return, with narratives dominated by far-right parties.
- Rojava Information Center is also working on daily updates, with verified information and reports from different areas of NES. Read their report of 10-12-24 here: https://rojavainformationcenter.org/2024/12/update-escalation-in-nes/
# Analysis
HTS is now busy making itself more presentable to western audiences, hoping to gain official legitimacy throw capturing the Syrian state structure. Western powers are going along with that, and no one is putting much attention to the small scale attacks that their rogue islamist groups are doing. The DAANES is holding talks with them, accepting them as provisional government for now, hoping to halt Turkish offensive and work towards a federal Syria that respects regional autonomy.
Turkey is moving further in their attacks, striking as far as Raqqa, making a bold statement that they are ready to defy US red lines in order to achieve their aims. The SNA soldiers are recording and spreading videos of the horrendous crimes they are committing as part of their psychological warfare, evoking the behavior of ISIS. This is not a coincidence, several ISIS fighters have been reported to be now holding command positions inside different factions of SNA.
Israel is moving further into Syria, defying even the UN that called to not push forward. With Russia and Iran losing all their influence on Syria, Israel and Turkey (strategic NATO allies, Turkey being formal member of the military alliance) are taking advantage of the situation to advance their imperialist agendas, indirectly supporting each other in their occupations.
DAANES is struggling to sustain the developments of past years, with Turkey attacks on Eufrates region and inter-tribal tensions in Deir-Ezzor, where some tribes pleading alliances with HTS while others reaffirm their support to SDF. This is nothing new, is the continuation of the tribal conflicts that had been ongoing in the region for some time.
One important topic to put attention is the situation of women. Women played very important roles all along Syria since the first uprisings of 2011, but in HTS protests and events, the absence of women is very noticeable, specially when compared with the role of women in DAANES. Rojava is a women revolution, and this is becoming even more obvious now, when all other forces are overwhelmingly male.
Enough for today, keep struggling and support the revolution!
Revolutionary greetings! 🖤
One important topic to put attention is the situation of women. Women played very important roles all along Syria since the first uprisings of 2011, but in HTS protests and events, the absence of women is very noticeable, specially when compared with the role of women in DAANES. Rojava is a women revolution, and this is becoming even more obvious now, when all other forces are overwhelmingly male.
Enough for today, keep struggling and support the revolution!
Revolutionary greetings! 🖤
Also, this infography contains pictures and names of the HTS aligned provisional government. If some one have the capacity and skills to translate it to English can be very helpful!
Rise up 4 Rojava Campaign calling for Global action day for December 14th
Updates 12-12-2024
# “Real Politik”
- The military activity is transitioning to political activity, as different agreements, political talks and official declarations are becoming the pivotal elements of the future of Siria. Nation-states wave their plans and make their moves, we won’t dive on that.
- Several governments are stating their intentions of opening embassies in Damascus to start relations with the provisional government, signaling their approval of the interim govrment and the power transition in Syria.
- The autonomous administration made an official statement declaring that all official buildings of DAANES will fly the new/old Syrian flag, as a symbol of victory of the revolution and the fall of the regime. This comes as a paradoxical return since it is the flag that YPG was waving in their first congress in 2013.
# Streets politics
- Protests in different cities are becoming key elements to measure force and support base of different factions. They are also being used as war propaganda, and we can see pro-turkish media accounts spreading videos of gatherings in different cities presenting them as protests against SDF, while at the same time don’t talk about the demonstrations in support of SDF and the Self-Administration institutions.
- A man armed with a light machine gun (PKM) opened fire in the streets of Raqqa, injuring some Assayish (Security forces) and also civilians. Allegedly, 43 people injured, not clear if there are any deads. Pro-turkish channels spreading fake information claiming that SDF opened fire against civilians. SDF is denying it sharing videos of what really happened.
# War on Eufrates region
- A ceasefire was brokered to halt hostilities in Manbij, agreeing to 1) SDF (MMC) to withdraw from Manbij safely 2) The tomb of Suleiman Shah to be given to SNA and Turkey 3) Tishreen dam to become a demilitarized zone with officers of the dam controlling it’s administration.
- SNA groups attacked the area of Tishreen dam with heavy forces despite the announcement of ceasefire. After a turkish drone hit the dam few days ago, and heavy clashes could damage the critical infrastructure of the dam unleashing a terrible catastrophe.
# Analysis
The situation is getting very confusing on the ground, with desinformation spreading on social networks and political talks behind closed doors. Verifying information is becoming a critical step to understand what is happening, since turkish propaganda strategy relays on a very strong desinformation apparatus.
This specially affect a lot of Syrian returnees, since many of them had been living in Turkey and being exposed to the turkish narrative of criminalization of SDF. This will feed ethnical tensions between kurds an arabs, risking more conflicts and even violence.
This comes together with the inter-kurdish conflicts we discussed two days ago, and indicates a general plan of turkish state intelligence to divide and isolate the leading forces of the revolution. Other forces like US or HTS will not oppose to such a plan, since a weakened revolutionary force will make it easier to dilute and manipulate the political project of the DAANES. This puts the achievements of the revolution in serious danger, and is more important than ever to expose and denounce such strategies, building a common revolutionary front to face enemy attacks.
Revolutionary greetings! 🖤
# “Real Politik”
- The military activity is transitioning to political activity, as different agreements, political talks and official declarations are becoming the pivotal elements of the future of Siria. Nation-states wave their plans and make their moves, we won’t dive on that.
- Several governments are stating their intentions of opening embassies in Damascus to start relations with the provisional government, signaling their approval of the interim govrment and the power transition in Syria.
- The autonomous administration made an official statement declaring that all official buildings of DAANES will fly the new/old Syrian flag, as a symbol of victory of the revolution and the fall of the regime. This comes as a paradoxical return since it is the flag that YPG was waving in their first congress in 2013.
# Streets politics
- Protests in different cities are becoming key elements to measure force and support base of different factions. They are also being used as war propaganda, and we can see pro-turkish media accounts spreading videos of gatherings in different cities presenting them as protests against SDF, while at the same time don’t talk about the demonstrations in support of SDF and the Self-Administration institutions.
- A man armed with a light machine gun (PKM) opened fire in the streets of Raqqa, injuring some Assayish (Security forces) and also civilians. Allegedly, 43 people injured, not clear if there are any deads. Pro-turkish channels spreading fake information claiming that SDF opened fire against civilians. SDF is denying it sharing videos of what really happened.
# War on Eufrates region
- A ceasefire was brokered to halt hostilities in Manbij, agreeing to 1) SDF (MMC) to withdraw from Manbij safely 2) The tomb of Suleiman Shah to be given to SNA and Turkey 3) Tishreen dam to become a demilitarized zone with officers of the dam controlling it’s administration.
- SNA groups attacked the area of Tishreen dam with heavy forces despite the announcement of ceasefire. After a turkish drone hit the dam few days ago, and heavy clashes could damage the critical infrastructure of the dam unleashing a terrible catastrophe.
# Analysis
The situation is getting very confusing on the ground, with desinformation spreading on social networks and political talks behind closed doors. Verifying information is becoming a critical step to understand what is happening, since turkish propaganda strategy relays on a very strong desinformation apparatus.
This specially affect a lot of Syrian returnees, since many of them had been living in Turkey and being exposed to the turkish narrative of criminalization of SDF. This will feed ethnical tensions between kurds an arabs, risking more conflicts and even violence.
This comes together with the inter-kurdish conflicts we discussed two days ago, and indicates a general plan of turkish state intelligence to divide and isolate the leading forces of the revolution. Other forces like US or HTS will not oppose to such a plan, since a weakened revolutionary force will make it easier to dilute and manipulate the political project of the DAANES. This puts the achievements of the revolution in serious danger, and is more important than ever to expose and denounce such strategies, building a common revolutionary front to face enemy attacks.
Revolutionary greetings! 🖤