Since 6 January, Islamist militias of HTS, along with Turkey-backed proxy forces of the former SNA, have launched massive attacks against the Autonomous Democratic Administration of North and East Syria (AANES/Rojava). Their aim is the destruction of Rojava’s democratic and women-liberation–based political project. These attacks would not be possible without the military, logistical, and political support of the Turkish state.
On 11 January, the attackers entered two Kurdish neighborhoods of Aleppo. With Turkish backing and the use of drones, the attacks were subsequently expanded eastward. In the following days, the multi-ethnic cities of Raqqa and Tabqa were targeted—cities that have been administered by the AANES since their liberation from the so-called “Islamic State” by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The system of governance established there guaranteed the rights of all ethnic and religious communities, as well as the equal political and social participation of women. While civilian institutions were based on broad social representation, the SDF’s military alliance partially relied on agreements with tribal leaders. The defection of some of these tribes contributed to the recent agreement between Mazlum Abdi and Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa.
Escaping the fighting and the targeted ethnic violence of the Islamist militias, thousands of people have been forced onto the roads of a new exile toward the Kurdish cities, which were already packed with refugees from Afrin and Serêkaniyê. In the attacked and occupied areas, statues of women martyrs and symbolic representations of self-administration have been destroyed, constituting a deliberate assault on the women-liberation identity of Rojava.
The Rojava Revolution, one of the most important hopes of oppressed peoples in the 21st century, is thus once again under threat from an alliance of Islamist militias, Turkish colonialism, and imperialist interests. Since 2011, these forces have sought to crush Kurdish self-determination and democratic self-administration through violence. That Rojava still exists today is due to the determined resistance of its people and sustained internationalist solidarity.
We condemn the passive stance of the EU states in the face of these attacks and call on women, workers, and the peoples of Europe to actively oppose occupation, war, and repression. Today, the civil institutions have declared a general civil mobilization across all regions of Rojava; we must answer their call. Defending Rojava is our international responsibility.
Let us strengthen internationalist solidarity and defend the achievements of the Rojava Revolution.
19.01.2026, People‘s Bridge
