Dani Ellis

16 Nov 2024

Building up a Rojava starter-pack, for those covering events there and across Syria and Kurdistan. Who should I include in it? go.bsky.app/Ce8oGKM

Dani Ellis reposted

Charlie the Fox

@sabcharlie.bsky.social

30 Dec 2024

Turkish proxy forces are being hit hard by the SDF on all fronts, but the Turkish military is refusing to be distracted, and remaining focused on their true enemy: grain silos and water pumping stations.

26 Dec 2024

Huge flex by the main SDF spox here, dismissing claims that Turkish-backed forces have taken strategically vital Tishreen Dam by filming himself standing on it "Today is a day of dignity, a day of honour. Because this is not war against a dam, or against a village, this is a war against everything"

20 Dec 2024

Local journalists in North East Syria are so likely to be targeted by Turkey that their agencies get them to contribute to their own obituaries, while at the same time Western press are in Damascus asking the big questions like if Jolani will allow alcohol and christmas trees.

iheart.comWhat’s Happening In Rojava - It Could Happen Here

20 Dec 2024

Not content with being one of the biggest jailers of journalists worldwide, Turkey seeks to control the narrative in Syria by murdering those they can’t arrest. Cîhan & Nazim made invaluable contributions from a region being mostly ignored by the international media.

Dani Ellis@lapinesque.com

Devastated to learn Turkey just killed 2 much-loved Kurdish journalists in Syria in a targeted drone strike. Nazim (left) was the first local journo I met when I joined the RIC. Both were fearless in their reporting from Syria in the face of constant threats to their lives.

I spoke to @jamesstout.bsky.social on the It Could Happen Here podcast about the current situation in Syria, and what it means for the future of Rojava: www.iheart.com/podcast/105-...

10 Dec 2024

Turkey's SNA forces in Syria are sharing a video of them questioning and then executing wounded soldiers as they lay in their hospital beds. Not posting the video, but this is precisely the kind of thing we expected from Turkish forces based on previously documented warcrimes.

10 Dec 2024

Very rough translation: SNA: Who are you? Army? How long are you fighting? W1: Well what can we do, we had to. SNA: And you? (to W2). You're army or PKK? W2: Self defence, border guard SNA: When were you shot? W2: Yesterday Then they execute both

10 Dec 2024

A local friend tells me that the SNA member talking sounds like he has a Turkmen accent from around Aleppo, but it's not clear. The wounded men are likely Arabs and 'self defence' could refer to HXP, the conscript/national service force of AANES.

As details emerge from SDF and local sources, today’s impressive defence of Manbij is proof that a lightly armed but well prepared and highly disciplined defender can inflict intolerable losses on a more numerous & much better equipped attacker, even one with total air supremacy.

Pro-Turkish sources are still claiming that the city has fallen while Manbij Military Council members are freely moving about filming videos of the streets absolutely littered with SNA dead.

This absolutely does not mean that the city can hold out indefinitely, but it is a huge morale boost, proves that the SDF have learned important lessons from 2018-19 wars, and crucially shows that a multi-ethnic force can work effectively together under extreme pressure.

"The era of tyranny is over" Confident statement by NES's defacto foreign minister that follows similarly positive messaging from other noteable leaders. They've kept the democratic confederalist project alive until now, and I am cautiously optimitic they'll continue to do so.

Entering a very dangerous period for Rojava; a massive assault on Manbij is underway. The SNA (opposition faction distinct from HTS) are attempting to capture the city from the SDF by attacking on 3 sides. The SNA have been responsible for some of the most apalling atrocities...

...committed by Islamists since the fall of ISIS, amongst others the near-total ethnic cleansing of Afrin and now Shebha region of Kurds and other ethnic minorities. If Manbij is taken we will likely see a repeat of the rape, torture and brutal executions still ongoing in Shebha.

Dani Ellis reposted

Charlie the Fox

@sabcharlie.bsky.social

There's a lot of talk of strategic points and captured equipment and so on, but for me the main thing is that people can go to school, or the shops, or for a walk across town, without having to cross potentially hostile checkpoints. People can drive around the ring road. Life will be easier.

Charlie the Fox@sabcharlie.bsky.social

Woke up this morning to news that the SDF control all of Hasakah and Qamişlo. It's amazing that this is how it ends, after all the blood that's been spilt over those enclaves.

Dani Ellis reposted

Charlie the Fox

@sabcharlie.bsky.social

Woke up this morning to news that the SDF control all of Hasakah and Qamişlo. It's amazing that this is how it ends, after all the blood that's been spilt over those enclaves.

End of an era in Qamişlo and Heseke as loyalist areas come under SDF control. Many large posters of Assad, lots of Zahreddine too, and a really amateur statue of Hafaz on the corner of the park. All will be pulled down over the coming days. Photo from my first full year in Rojava, 2019.

Post-Assad Syria, what are you most looking forward to? 🚂 Restoration of Al-Ya’rubiyah-Damascus train line? 🛫 €29 Ryanair flights to Qamişlo? 🍫 Return of SnackBars (Syrian Snickers) at original price of $1 per dozen? ☠️ Ba’ath party loyalists getting the noose?

The Kurdish Red Crescent are actively calling for donations. They are currently the only NGO providing aid to the 200,000+ refugees arriving into Tabqa and Minbij, and will inevitably be responsible for building longer-term camps for them. Please donate if you can.

Heyva Sor a Kurdistanê e.V. Kreissparkasse Köln IBAN: DE49 3705 0299 0004 0104 81 BIC/SWIFT: COKSDE33XXX Reference: Rojava PayPal: heyvasorakurdistan@gmail.com

A 🧵 on current SDF/AANES situation in: 1. Northern Aleppo & Til Rifaat 2. Minbij region 3. Deir-ez-Zor, specifically Khasham pocket Based on conversations with people on the ground there. (As a caveat, I'm not a member of the SDF and don't speak for them)

Summary: I don't think NW Syria has been quite the failure for SDF as being portrayed online, but at the same time I think there is very real chance there is humanitarian tragedy playing out that we won't be aware of until more evacuees arrive in SDF areas and can share info.

Our attention now should turn to Minbij. SNA seem to be intent on taking it, and a lot will come down to what Turkey decides. I suspect there is a lot of negotiation going on between Russia, Turkey and US about this, as so far Turkish Airforce have been quite restrained.

The Deir-ez-Zor military council, supported by other SDF elements (I presume YPG, but don't know) are moving carefully to avoid unnecessary losses. There appears to have been a pause in fighting today but I can't get information as to why.

Just to add, regarding right-bank of the Euphrates: I cannot find any reliable evidence of this supposed huge Hashad al-Shabi convoy being bombed by the US. No-one I know in YPG/SDF knows anything about it and the US don't seem to have commented on it.

Now that the SAA have collapsed in the North, there is no reason to hold back, and SDF HQ have approved plans to take the pocket, consolidating their control of eastern Deir-ez-Zor. the USAF struck several overwatch positions and DMC are advancing on the ground.

Contrary to reports online, they are not facing stiff resistance, but are also not in a rush to take the town. As result of it being a bridgehead, surrounded for years, it is heavily mined, yet also has a sizeable civilian prescence.

3. Khasham Pocket This is a small region East of the Euphrates that was nominally under SAA control since ISIS were pushed out. In reality it has been the main base of IRGC-backed groups that have been conducting regular raids and rocket attacks on the SDF and coalition bases. Image

US CENTCOM, local tribes and Deir-ez-Zor Military Council (DMC) have all been pushing SDF HQ to authorise an operation to take it for several years now. Due to the delicate balance of power between SAA and SDF in North West, this was considered politically unwise.

Some of these areas have a sizeable presence of small SDF units conducting ambushes and raids on the SNA advances. There's already videos confirming 30+ SNA dead from these. This goes for Deir Hefir and the villages around Minbij that the SNA have claimed.

So far SDF losses have been relatively low, but I suspect the toll on civilians to rise as more information comes out about the large evacuation convoy attempting to get back to SDF lines.

SDF have shot dead several HTS and SNA members that entered the area, but they don't appear to been concerted attacks. It's hard to get info out of Şêx Meksûd right now as both power and internet are very limited, but for now residents there are saying the situation is calm atm.

2. Minbij region SDF have doubled down on opsec recently, and combined with HTS+SNA cutting off power and internet this means very little info about their actions and positions has been getting out. Many of the areas currently mapped to be 'under SNA' are actually grey zones.

Şêx Meksûd (N.Aleppo) is considered a fortress and a sizeable SDF presence will remain there as long as there are people to defend. This map released by HTS is broadly accurate - SDF maintain control over the neighbourhood and still have units North of Aleppo to harrass SNA.

I can't get hard info on whether a formal agreement exists between SDF command and HTS regarding deconfliction in the Aleppo region, but it looks pretty clear that there at least some kind of informal agreement on the ground.

...but at the same time they could not force residents there to leave their homes prior to outbreak of hostilities. Both politically and militarily they were in a difficult position.

As a result there are now 200k+ refugees on their way to Minbij+Tabqa, under SDF control. HTS appears to have allowed this to take place, but the SNA have taken advantage of it and have been raiding convoys. They have posted videos of them torturing & beheading those captured.

The problem they had is that there are 250k+ refugees in this region, in addition to many families that have lived there for generations. At same time there has been a influx of other minorities into SDF areas. Moving this many people is a huge op regardless of how well planned.

West of Minbij the SDF was spread over a large area with long supply lines (partially through SAA-held territory) and saliant at Tel Rifat stretching deep into areas under SNA. It was considered to costly to mount a defence and so a withdrawal was the most sensible option...

1. Northern Aleppo. SDF command were aware of the state of SAA and have been actively planning for a collapse for some time, but were unaware of the timing of HTS's operation. Once it started, they began operation to evacuate as many civilians as possible to the East.

Heyva Sor a Kurdistanê e.V. Kreissparkasse Köln IBAN: DE49 3705 0299 0004 0104 81 BIC/SWIFT: COKSDE33XXX Reference: Rojava PayPal: heyvasorakurdistan@gmail.com

Honestly this is the single most comprehensible introduction to current situation in Syria and I wish I'd seen it 7 years ago. It's now my default response when a friend or family member asks me what's going on 'over there'.

30 Nov 2024

Hard to explain to my friends that haven’t spent time in Rojava but if a single photo could describe the last 6 years of my life it would look something like this. twitter.com/AliiAmmarrr/...

Dani Ellis reposted

bianet English

@bianet-eng.bsky.social

27 Nov 2024

Kurdish poet İlhan Sami Çomak released from prison after 30 years “I had imagined being freed on a brighter and sunnier day, seeing the light in my loved ones’ eyes in a different atmosphere. But this is good too—I’m free at last," Çomak said upon his release. bianet.org/haber/kurdis...

27 Nov 2024

Now well into its second decade, the Syrian civil war just reignited as Turkish-backed islamist groups in the North West have launched a massive offensive against the Russian-backed regime, right at the same time as the Kurdish-led SDF launched a series of devastating raids on those same militias.