QAMISHLI, Syria, Jan 13 (Reuters) – Thousands of people marched in rain in northeastern Syria on Tuesday to protest against the expulsion of Kurdish forces from the city of Aleppo a week ago after days of deadly clashes.
The violence in Aleppo deepens one of Syria’s major fault lines, with President Ahmed Sala’s pledge to unify the country under one leadership after 14 years of war facing resistance from Kurdish forces wary of an Islamist-led government.
Five days of fighting left at least 23 people dead and more than 150,000 people fled two Kurdish-controlled areas of the city, according to Syria’s health ministry. The last group of Kurdish fighters left Aleppo in the early morning of January 11.
Thousands of Syrian Kurds protested in the northeastern city of Qamishli on Tuesday. They carried banners emblazoned with the Kurdish army’s insignia and the faces of Kurdish fighters killed in the fighting – some of whom detonated belts filled with explosives as government forces approached.
concerns about wider conflict
Other posters featured a salad and the face of Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan crossed out with a red “X” and the caption “Killer of the Kurdish People.”
Turkey accuses the Syrian Democratic Forces – the main Kurdish fighting force that governs the semi-autonomous region in northeastern Syria – of having links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which Ankara considers a terrorist organization.
Many Kurds say last week’s bloodshed has deepened their doubts about Shala’s commitment to governing for all Syrians.
“If they truly love the Kurds, if they sincerely say that the Kurds are an official and fundamental part of Syria, then the rights of the Kurdish people must be recognized in the constitution,” said Hassan Mohammed, chairman of the Council of Religions and Beliefs in northeastern Syria, who participated in Tuesday’s protest.
Others fear the bloodshed will worsen. The Syrian Defense Ministry on Tuesday declared eastern Aleppo, still controlled by the SDF, a “military closed zone” and ordered all armed forces in the area to withdraw further east.
Qamishli resident Idris Khalil, who protested on Tuesday, said the violence in Aleppo reminded him of last year’s sectarian massacres against the Alawite minority on the Syrian coast and the Druze minority in the south of the country.
“Concerns about all-out war – if they want all-out war, the people will suffer more and it will cause divisions among the people of the region and prevent them from living together peacefully,” Khalil said.
(Reporting by Orhan Qereman; Writing by Maya Gebeily; Editing by Aidan Lewis)