Over the previous two months, violence has intensified throughout Rojava, the area administered by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) and guarded by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a multiethnic coalition of Kurdish, Arab, and Christian fighters that led the defeat of ISIS and now defends the world’s autonomy.
The Damascus authorities, Turkish-backed militias, and extremist teams have carried out repeated assaults on these territories, leading to mounting civilian casualties and widespread displacement.
No less than ten civilians have been killed in current assaults on Rojava communities. The deadliest incident occurred on September 20 within the village of Umm Tina, the place eight civilians, together with a number of kids aged one to 4, aged girls of their seventies, and a two-month-old child who later died of accidents, had been killed in the course of the “Umm Tina bloodbath.”
Two extra civilians died earlier that month in Deir Hafir clashes. 4 civilians and several other kids had been wounded in later strikes on Zubeyda village.
The Syrian Democratic Forces additionally suffered one fighter killed and several other wounded throughout repeated drone and artillery assaults. On October 16, a bus bombing in Deir Az Zor, seemingly carried out by ISIS remnants, killed four security personnel and injured 9 others.
Forces aligned with Ahmad al-Sharaa’s Damascus authorities have launched quite a few drone and artillery assaults on SDF-held areas, together with Deir Hafir and Umm Tina.
Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) factions have performed widespread kidnappings, looting, and extortion in northern Aleppo and al-Bab countryside, typically focusing on civilians for ransom or property seizure.
Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militants have joined assaults on Rojava villages, whereas ISIS cells are re-emerging throughout japanese Syria, contributing to insecurity and sporadic bombings that deepen civilian struggling.
Abductions and different crimes are additionally rising in territories held by Damascus-aligned and Turkish-backed teams.
Latest instances embody the tried kidnapping of a scholar at Ratib al-Mousa Main College in rural Quneitra, the place the kid resisted and was injured, and the kidnapping of businessman Salah Aslan, a relative of Common Ali Aslan, in Latakia.
The SNA has been accused of property seizures, racketeering, and compelled displacement of civilians from Kurdish-majority areas.
Following the Assad regime’s withdrawal from Deir Hafir in late 2024, the Kurdish-led SDF assumed management and established a civil council in March 2025.
Though a ceasefire settlement was signed on March 10 between SDF Commander Mazloum Abdi and transitional president Ahmad al-Sharaa, meant to combine SDF forces into nationwide establishments, the accord collapsed amid steady assaults on SDF models and civilians.
The SDF maintains that it can’t disarm beneath present situations. Commanders cite the bloodbath of a couple of thousand Alawite civilians who had surrendered their weapons to Damascus authorities as proof that disarmament leaves communities defenseless.
In distinction, the SDF insists its mission is to guard the individuals of Rojava from authorities, militia, and terrorist violence.
Since August 2025, each the SDF and Syrian authorities forces have accused one another of violating the March 10 ceasefire.
A second, extra complete ceasefire was signed on October 7, 2025, however violations have continued.
Whereas each side blame one another for breaking the ceasefire, proof constantly reveals that Damascus authorities forces conduct indiscriminate assaults on civilian areas with drones and artillery, whereas the SDF primarily engages in military-to-military confrontations to defend its positions.
The Deir Hafir border crossing, strategically connecting Raqqa and Aleppo, has turn into a flashpoint. On October 22, a suicide drone struck close to the ceasefire line, inflicting materials harm however no casualties.
The SDF described this as a part of a broader marketing campaign by Damascus-linked forces to destabilize the Autonomous Administration’s safety.
In response to the SDF Press Middle, the September 20 assault on Umm Tina started with drone strikes adopted by hours of indiscriminate artillery shelling utilizing howitzers.
The assault intentionally focused civilian houses. Among the many eight victims was Omer Ebduleziz Hemze, a two-month-old child who died from his accidents two days afterward September 22.
Three days after the Umm Tina bloodbath, on September 23, Damascus-affiliated forces carried out new artillery strikes on the village of Zubeyda, injuring 4 extra kids.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented three further civilians injured by Syrian Military shelling on the identical day because the Umm Tina assault.
The assaults have continued into current weeks. In a single incident, two suicide drones focused SDF positions, killing one fighter and wounding three others.
One other drone later struck an Inside Safety Forces patrol, injuring 4 personnel. These navy strikes had been accompanied by artillery hearth on residential neighborhoods, spreading concern amongst civilians and endangering non-combatants.
The SDF has condemned these assaults as a deliberate navy escalation designed to destabilize the area, displace residents, and violate ceasefire agreements.
The autonomous administration maintains that it’s exercising its legit proper to self-defense towards “undisciplined teams” that proceed violating ceasefires and focusing on civilian areas.
The violence in Rojava is a part of a wider sample of instability throughout Syria beneath President al-Sharaa’s interim authorities, which got here to energy after the December 2024 insurgent offensive that ousted Assad.
Al-Sharaa’s authorities has presided over sectarian clashes in Suwayda, allowed Turkish-backed militias to function with impunity, and failed to regulate extremist teams regardless of signing ceasefire agreements with the SDF.
The Deir Az Zor area, which borders Iraq and stays divided between Damascus authorities forces and SDF-controlled territory east of the Euphrates River, exemplifies the continuing tensions.
The world is Syria’s primary oil and wheat-producing area, with the SDF overseeing many of the nation’s oilfields, a proven fact that provides financial dimensions to the battle.
Regardless of al-Sharaa’s efforts to reintegrate Syria into the worldwide neighborhood, together with his historic deal with to the UN Common Meeting, the primary by a Syrian chief in six many years, and securing investments from Gulf Arab states, his authorities has continued to launch assaults on Rojava’s civilian inhabitants and has didn’t implement the promised integration of SDF forces into nationwide establishments.
