In this episode, Ayman is joined by Dara Eilo. Dara is an Assyrian activist and human rights advocate who has been involved in organising activities in Syria and Lebanon for the past decade and a half. Our conversation focused on the events that have taken place in Northern Syria since Jan 13, specifically the fighting between STG (that is, the new Syrian government) and the Kurdish-led SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces). What began as military operations to capture all of Aleppo, of which some neighbourhoods were held by the SDF, ended up being a wide-ranging conflict that saw the central government control large areas like Deir Azzor and Raqqa. Meanwhile, the territory controlled by the SDF shrank significantly.
At the time of recording, fighting was still ongoing, and there was a very real fear amongst Kurdish communities of a war of extermination, as they described it, an existential war.
This episode was recorded on January 24, and that’s important to note because things have already changed since then. After the recording, we learned that a ceasefire was announced by the Syrian government. Then, six days later, on January 30, a comprehensive agreement was signed between the transitional government and the SDF, which includes a ceasefire, gradual integration of SDF battalions in the Syrian Army and civic integration into regional municipalities.
The conversation you are about to listen to, like most of the interviews I do on this podcast, is not one that focuses on geopolitics, large narratives, or predictive analysis about what is going to happen next. Instead, as though sitting in a cafe in Beirut, it is a conversation between two people who are deeply connected to the current moment, seeing what is happening on the ground but also the discourse online, and connecting with their shared grief, frustrations, and thoughts.
Of course, it goes without saying that we stand in solidarity with the Kurdish people, and with all people who are struggling under systems of oppression and domination.
Links:
Assyrian Movement for Collective Liberation
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