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Leila Al Shami is co-author, along with Robin Yassin-Kassab, of 'Burning
Country, the best book available on the Syrian revolution. This is an
excellent interview with Leila about the mass-murderous Russian-led
counterrevolutionary assault on the people of Aleppo. She takes a very
balanced view, in my opinion, on the question of the PYD/YPG/Rojava,
while clearly situating its current appalling role in the Russian
genocidal war on the people of Aleppo in its expansionist, irredentist
plan to "link" Kurdish cantons by conquering Arab territory.
The assault on Aleppo
February 25, 2016 by Leila Al Shami
https://leilashami.wordpress.com/2016/02/25/the-assault-on-aleppo/#more-368
The questions for this interview were written by the authors of Syria:
The Stolen Revolution.
“We Will Not Leave The Trench Until The Night Is Gone” By the activists
of Aleppo, photographed by Barry Abdulattif. Source: The Creative Memory
of the Syrian Revolution
We are currently witnessing what looks like the crushing of anti-Assad
rebellion forces. The Aleppo battle seems to be a turning point in Syria’s
civil war before a general confrontation with ISIS occurs. In your
opinion do rebel forces still shelter components of the revolutionary
Syrian movement? Or are they nowadays reduced to sunni confessional
militias, supported by Turkey and Saudi Arabia?
Anti Assad rebels in north Aleppo are now facing a relentless assault by
Russians from the air and an Iranian backed ground force comprised of
various sectarian militias. This has transformed their struggle against
a fascist regime into a national liberation struggle. The Russian Air
Force has decimated civilian infrastructure in the province. The main
rebel supply route from Turkey has been severed. The rebels are
surrounded in the Azaz corridor by regime allied militias, Daesh and the
Kurdish YPG.
If Aleppo is besieged up to 300,000 people will be cut off from the
outside world. Tens of thousands have fled the city. As well as crushing
the armed resistance the Assad regime and its imperial backers are
carrying out a deliberate and systematic policy to depopulate the
liberated areas of Syria.
When we talk of ‘liberated areas’ it’s more than just rhetoric. Under
threat in Aleppo are the different local councils which ensure the
governance of each area and have kept providing services to the local
population in the absence of the state. We are talking about more than
100 civil society organizations (the second largest concentration of
active civil society groups anywhere in the country). These include some
28 free media groups, women’s organizations and emergency and relief
organizations such as the Civil Defense Force. It also includes
educational organizations such as Kesh Malek which provides
non-ideological education for children, often in people’s basements, to
ensure school continues under bombardment. Under Assad’s totalitarian
state, independent civil society was non-existent and no independent
media sources existed. But in Free Aleppo democracy is being practiced
as the people themselves self-organize and run their communities. This
for me represents the original goals of the revolutionary movement.
The armed militias in the north Aleppo area include both the Free Army
and Islamists. The Islamists represent the conservative culture of rural
Aleppo. They are comprised primarily of Aleppo’s sons, brothers and
fathers. They have strong local support and men and women have taken the
streets in recent days calling for rebel unity to defend Free Aleppo
from this fascist onslaught.
The rebels receive tepid support from the US, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
Nothing until now has made a real difference on the ground such as
providing the rebels with the anti-aircraft weapons they desperately
need. This is changing with Turkey’s military intervention. But Turkey’s
intervention is primarily designed to prevent the establishment of a
Kurdish state along its border. It has not intervened solely to protect
the Azaz corridor, but is shelling civilians and uprooting olive trees
in Afrin. No state is intervening to defend the popular struggle but
rather to defend its own interests and those of its elites.
What is the current situation in the eastern Ghouta and in the rebel
controlled zones in the south?
The eastern Ghouta is also under relentless attack. Assad and Russian
forces have targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure such as
schools, hospitals and market places. Over 160,000 people are trapped
under regime siege in desperate conditions. Some authoritarian rebel
groups have also been accused of stealing and hoarding food,
contributing further to the people’s suffering. But despite these
challenges the people of the Eastern Ghouta have practiced communal
solidarity in the most creative and practical ways and kept life
functioning. They’ve dug wells for water supply, set up solar power and
recycled methane from waste to provide an alternative energy supply.
They’ve operated makeshift hospitals and schools and grown food (often
roof-top gardens) to fend off starvation. Since the beginning of this
year two towns in the eastern Ghouta, Erbin and Zamalka, have held
democratic elections for their local council.
The rebels in the south are under a lot of pressure at the moment and
the regime, under cover of Russian airstrikes, has made strategic gains
around Deraa. Most hospitals and clinics in east Deraa are now out of
service due to bombardment. The Deraa provincial council reports that
more than 80,000 people have fled their homes to seek refugee deeper in
rebel-held territory or have moved towards the Jordanian border which is
closed. The south of the country is held mainly by the Southern Front, a
coalition of over 50 Free Army groups with a secular, democratic agenda
which have largely refused to cooperate with extremist Islamist groups.
The Southern Front receives support via Jordan which has been reducing
assistance to the group in recent weeks, under US pressure, to get
rebels to focus their fight on Daesh (even though there’s little Daesh
presence in the south) rather than the regime.
How would you interpret YPG/PYD strategy? Do you think there will be a
final armed confrontation between the Kurds and the Baathist regime, or
do you think Russians, Iranians, Kurds and Baathists have a shared
vision of the future of Syria? In other words, is there a general
agreement on land and power sharing within the former borders?
In the case of the Kurds, key regime figures have said they will not
accept Kurdish autonomy in the north. Concessions given to the PYD by
the regime so far should be seen as tactical. But it now looks as if the
PYD has turned to Russia as its protector. And for Russia an alliance
with the PYD is a useful tool in its fight against Turkey. The PYD has
at times entered into strategic alliances with the regime, but the YPG
has also fought the regime. It’s alliances are solely pragmatic in
maintaining control over the north. If Arab resistance forces are
neutralized, it’s possible that Assad will turn his attention to
destroying Kurdish autonomy. Whether Russia and the US (allied with the
YPG) allow this to happen remains to be seen.
The Russians, Iranians and the regime realize that Assad will be unable
to reassert his control over large parts of the country which he has
already lost. It’s possible there will be a partition of Syria and the
imposition of mini states along sectarian lines. In areas which the
regime and its allies hope to control, we are witnessing the ethnic
cleansing of Sunni (oppositional) communities and their repopulation
with communities loyal to the regime and its allies. When the regime
took over Homs, the land registry was destroyed and Alawites moved into
vacant Sunni homes. The assault on Zabadani and crippling siege on
Madaya by the regime and Hizbullah are designed to force Sunni
inhabitants to leave the area. It’s feared that Lebanese and Iraqi Shia
militia members and their families will be resettled there. Iran and
Hizbullah’s involvement is to maintain the strategic link from Iran to
Lebanon which runs through Damascus (and Baghdad) and is fueled by
sectarianism. As for Russia, deals have already been made to hand over
Syria’s energy sector to Russian companies. Both Iran and Russia see
Syria as a key battle ground in their geo-political struggles with Saudi
Arabia and the West respectively.
Do you perceive the unification of Rojava’s canton (Afrin, Kobane,
Jazira), its political and social system, and the creation of Syrian
Democratic Forces (multi-ethnic and multi-confessional – YPG ruled) as a
democratic alternative to the regime Reconquista?
It’s not a ‘democratic’ alternative but it’s an alternative. The
Self-Administration is monopolized by the PYD. Those Kurds that oppose
the PYD have been silenced, imprisoned, tortured and assassinated. The
PYD has now moved beyond the idea of democratic confederalism (democracy
without the state) – an idea which I strongly support – towards attempts
to carve out a new state through linking the cantons. This includes its
expansionist turn to take over Arab majority areas under cover of
Russian airstrikes. The Syrian Democratic Forces aren’t an alternative
to the regime. Dominated by the YPG and including some minor Arab
forces, they were established to gain the support of the US led
coalition in the fight against Daesh only.
Kurds have suffered decades of systematic oppression at the hands of
Arabist (and Turkish nationalist) regimes and their struggle for
self-determination should be supported. Inspiring examples of
self-organization and direct democracy have occurred on the community
level through the communes established in towns and villages across
Rojava. Kurdish youth are filled with libertarian spirit and all Syrians
can learn from the ideas which are spreading across the north. My main
fears are that this will be undone in the end by PYD authoritarianism
and that Arab-Kurdish ethnic conflict will break out. If ethnic conflict
breaks out it will be a result of three factors: the attempt of the
Syrian regime to destroy any Arab-Kurdish alliance which emerged during
the revolution; the failure of Arab opposition leaders to stand fully
behind the Kurdish struggle for self-determination; and the actions of
the PYD and extremist Islamist militias. All Syrians will loose in such
a scenario.
Do you consider the Rojava cantons a safe place for Syrian political and
revolutionary opponents to shelter? Or is exile still the only way to
escape dictatorship?
Because of the current practices of the PYD the Rojava cantons aren’t a
safe place for political and revolutionary groups operating
independently of the PYD.
Afrin has welcomed some families fleeing Aleppo. But it’s unlikely the
cantons will allow large numbers of Arabs to seek safety on their
territory incase they upset the demographic balance. The countries
surrounding Syria have closed their borders except in exceptional cases.
Many people simply do not have the option of leaving and do not have any
place to go.
Do you think the US and Russia agree on focusing the war on ISIS and
that occidental powers are abandoning the opposition forces to Bashar
and finally isolating Erdogan?
In terms of the regime the Russian and US positions were never very
different – no one wanted to see it dismantled. It was about Assadism
with Assad (Russian position) or Assadism without Assad (the US
position). What’s changed is that now neither are calling for Assad to
go.
In terms of fighting Daesh – rhetorically they both agree that this is
their main focus. But as we have seen, very few of the airstrikes
carried out by Russia have been on Daesh, but rather on the resistance
militias fighting the regime and Daesh too. It must not be forgotten
that the Free Army which is now being decimated and the (former) Islamic
Front have been the most effective force on the ground at fighting
Daesh – pushing them out of large parts of northern and eastern Syria in
2014 – before Daesh came back in force with the heavy weaponry it seized
in Iraq and US support was given to the Syrian Democratic Forces. It
appears the US has abandoned the rebels, even though it never truly
supported them beyond applying pressure to force Assad to the
negotiation table – a strategy which failed. The results of this will
only be the strengthening of Daesh and other extremist groups like the
Al-Qaeda affiliated Jabhat Al Nusra. The US has not been responsive to
Turkish concerns and proposals in Syria (such as arming the Free Army
and establishing a safe zone) it has been more accommodating to Iran
than its traditional allies – Turkey and Saudi. Alliances are currently
interwoven among opposing interests and in flux
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