Thousands of Kurds rally in northeast Syria in show of solidarity

Thousands of Syrian Kurds rallied in the northeast city of Qamishli on Sunday in a show of solidarity ahead of the implementation of a recent deal with the government.

Damascus and Kurdish forces reached a comprehensive agreement on Friday to gradually integrate the Kurds’ military and civilian institutions into the state, after under-pressure Kurds ceded territory to advancing government forces in recent weeks.

The developments have come as a blow to the Kurds, who had sought to preserve the de facto autonomy they exercised after seizing swathes of north and northeast Syria in battles against the Islamic State jihadist group during Syria’s civil war, backed by a US-led coalition.

In Qamishli, the main Kurdish city in the northeast, thousands of men, women and children filled the streets, according to an AFP correspondent, waving Kurdish flags and holding up pictures of fighters who were killed.

Student Barine Hamza, 18, said “we have come out for Kurdish unity”.

“We are afraid of being betrayed because we do not trust this government,” she said.

The text of the deal maintains an ongoing ceasefire and introduces a “gradual integration” of the Kurdish forces and administrative institutions.

It appeared to include some of the Kurds’ demands, such as establishing brigades of fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Kurdish-majority areas.

SDF chief Mazloum Abdi has said the deal would be implemented on the ground from Monday, with both sides to pull back from frontline positions in the Kurdish-held town of Kobane, and parts of the northeast.

He said a “limited internal security force” would enter parts of Hasakeh and Qamishli but that “no military forces will enter any Kurdish city or town”.

Housewife Nourshana Mohammed, 40, said she attended the rally “to safeguard everything we have gained and preserve it”.

“The presence of the SDF is important for us. It protects us Kurds and saved us” from IS, she said.

Information Minister Hamza Mustafa told state media on Friday that the agreement included the handover of some oil fields, the Qamishli airport and border crossings to the government within 10 days.

He said SDF fighters would be integrated on an individual basis into several brigades being formed under the army’s command.

The United States, which has drawn close to Syria’s new Islamist authorities, recently said the purpose of its alliance with the Kurdish forces was largely over.

At the rally, housewife Leila Kalash, 53, said that “the SDF protects our rights… We will not abandon the SDF.”