A-Infos (en) UK, AFEd, Organise - (A) REPORT FROM North East Sirya - MAY (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Dear comrades, First of all we want to share a self critic for our 
absence the last weeks. We are reorganizing a bit our work system and we 
failed to send updates on time, also to communicate about if. So better 
late than never: from now on we will continue reporting on a monthly 
base. ---- YPJ Campaign ---- A campaign under the slogan "We are all 
YPJ" has been started and is gaining attention both nationally and 
internationally. The women's movement and organizations of Rojava 
started this campaign the 26th of April with the aim to have YPJ be part 
of the integration process.
As we have mentioned before, the role of YPJ and NES's women's 
organizations more generally, is and will continue to be a stickling 
point in the negotiations because women's struggle is a foundation of 
the revolution while at the same time al-Sharaa with his islamic 
fundamentalist ideology does not want to legitimize women's power and 
rightful place in society.

Unrest and repression under STG

Amid increasing living costs, protests took place in different cities of 
Syria, including a Damascus. Prices of oil and gas are being raised by 
the government, reaching prices impossible to pay for most of the 
population. The government recently issued a decree announcing that 
every demonstration has to be approved by the government beforehand or 
it will be considered illegal.
Following some clashes in Homs where a government soldier was killed by 
an Alawite man, a wave of attacks and raids against Alawite population 
once again took place in that region, not as big as before but still 
inflaming ethnic tensions and conflicts.
In Haseke, after government forces removed the sign in Kurdish and 
arabic to change it for one in arabic and english, a wave of protests 
erupted around the building, removing the new sign and demanding the one 
that included kurdish language to be put back.
In Idlib, a brigade of Uzbek radical islamists clashed with government 
forces after some of their members were arrested. This is the second 
incident involving foreign fighters in Idlib after in October some 
French islamist groups also clashed with government forces on the 
outskirts of their training camp close to the Turkish border.
MIT Aiding Arab Tribal Forces
Reports are circulating about alleged meetings between MIT (Turkish 
intelligence) and some tribal leaders, to negotiate and build groups 
able to carry out attacks and killings in kurdish majority areas of 
north east Syria. Allegedly, MIT is providing weapons, training and 
funding to some men connected to what has been presented as "tribal 
armies", building an underground network able to carry out insurgent 
attacks on Kurdish regions. Those groups may be able to count with tacit 
government support while allowing government forces to deny any official 
links, building on tactics of paramilitary counter-guerrilla that the 
Turkish State has been using for decades against the kurdish movement.

Largest Convoy of Returnees to Afrin
A fifth convoy of Afrin refugees departed from Haseke on May 10th, 
comprising an estimated 1,600 families of Kurds, who were forced to 
leave their homes in 2018 following the Olive Branch military operation. 
This has been the largest so far, bigger than the forth one that 
traveled on early May with around 1,000 families.

The first of these convoys went to Afrin on March 9, and consisted of 
around 400 displaced families. A second group of around 200 families 
arrived on April 4, followed by a third convoy of approximately 800 
families that reached Afrin on April 14. So in total we are counting 
around 4000 families that returned to Afrin, even if the conditions 
there are still unclear as the influence of the Turkish state and its 
armed groups, comprised of former SNA, still have a heavy presence in 
the region.

Reshuffling Power Positions on Syria's Government
Ahmad al-Sharaa issued a series of presidential decrees introducing new 
appointments to senior positions within the Presidency and several 
ministries.

Under the decrees, Abdulrahman Badr al-Din al-A'ma was appointed 
Secretary-General of the Presidency, replacing Maher al-Sharaa, the 
brother of the president. Khaled Fawaz Zaarour succeeded Hamza Mustafa 
as Minister of Information. In the Agriculture Ministry, Bassel Hafez 
al-Suweidan was named minister, replacing Amjad Badr.

The decrees further appointed new governors in several governorates; 
Ghassan Elias al-Sayyed Ahmad as Governor of Quneitra, replacing Ahmad 
al-Dalati, Murhaf Khaled al-Naasan as Governor of Homs, Ahmad Ali 
Mustafa as Governor of Latakia, Ziyad Fawaz al-Ayesh was appointed 
Governor of Deir ez-Zor.

Stalling of Peace Process in Bakur
In recent declarations, leaders of the apoist movement stated that the 
peace initiative with Turkey has been effectively "frozen", since Ankara 
has failed to implement the necessary legal and political reforms to 
advance the process.

The Apoist Movement leadership also held a press conference marking the 
first anniversary of the PKK's dissolution congress, were they evaluated 
the achievements of the Kurdish liberation movement. They remarked that 
the dissolution of PKK should be understood as a new beginning for the 
Kurdish liberation movement, opening space for political and democratic 
developments.

Evaluation
In the last month we saw how the war tensions between US and Israel 
against Iran continue to cast their shadow over the whole Middle East. 
Western powers formalize their ties with the Syrian government, and 
today (May 11th) Syria and the EU will hold the first high-level 
political talks since the fall of the Assad regime. It is expected that 
the talks will focus on establishing a political framework for the 
relations between the EU and Syria and to assess EU support for 
economical recovery and political transition.

The project of the Autonomous Administration of NES as an official 
institution is ending, as talks about integration into the Syrian State 
are becoming the everyday life in NES. The revolutionary movement is 
working to defend the values and achievements of the revolution as the 
formal institutions dissolve, but the communes and the grassroots 
movement continue on its path. Many people is sad about those loses, but 
at the same time very aware of the reasons behind it.

The decisions of SDF and the DAANES prevented a bloodbath, and everyone 
on the ground is very aware of that. The lives of the people of NES were 
put in front of any political agenda, allowing for a relative peace and 
calm on the ground. The political and military bodies of NES maneuvered 
in the best way possible to avoid any massacres or long bloody battles. 
As prisoners exchange go on, families celebrate that their sons and 
daughters come back home, knowing that in other conditions they wouldn't 
be able to see them ever again.

At the same time, important political achievements have been reached for 
kurds in Syria, with their rights formally recognized in the 
constitution and official decrees. That brings some hopes for political 
struggle instead of simply continuation of war, but everyone is aware 
that those agreements mean nothing if people are not organized and ready 
to fight when the state tries to walk back on any of those achievements. 
The means of self-defense have also been somewhat preserved, making sure 
that SDF didn't end up surrendering or simply giving up weapons.

Today is clear that al-Sharaa is a good strategist. He used his cards 
very well to achieve the central position he wanted. He is a pragmatist 
with no problems to compromise the ideological lines of his organization 
in order to strengthen his own grip on Syrian State power. How much he 
will try to return to his islamist roots as he consolidates power, how 
much he will simply embrace western capitalist politics and play the 
role of responsible head of state for western powers is something that 
will become more clear in time to come.

https://organisemagazine.org.uk/2026/05/18/a-report-from-nes-may/
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