West dumps Syria’s Kurds again, greenlighting regime invasion

In recent weeks, terrorist-turned-Western-sweetheart Ahmed al-Sharaa has been ramping up hostilities with the self-governing, largely Kurdish communities of north-eastern Syria. Despite negotiations about what a future Syria will look like, the attacks represent a major power play from al-Sharaa. And oil is a key factor.

Western governments that benefited from Syrian Kurds’ leading role in defeating Daesh, meanwhile, have been quiet – as they were during previous ethnic cleansing campaigns. And if the US didn’t explicitly greenlight attacks, it certainly seems to think Kurdish communities should just submit to the extremist forces around them:

The current government in #Damascus has no popular legitimacy. It installed itself through force of arms. There has been no national reconciliation, no general elections, no #referendum, and no constitutional enshrinement of equal rights for Kurds and other non-Arab, non-Muslim… https://t.co/ZknmDyA9TI

— Kamran Matin (@KamranMatin) January 20, 2026

Remember Rojava? Al-Sharaa hopes you don’t.

Northern Syria’s multi-ethnic but largely Kurdish region (Rojava) gave birth to a progressive revolution during the country’s devastating civil war. Amid all the challenges, including the hostility of extremists like Daesh and NATO’s second-largest army in Turkey, northern Syrian communities built a new system that cared about:

• Empowering different communities via a “multinational, multicultural, multi-religious” democracy.
• Centring women’s rights.
• Caring for the environment.
• Fostering a co-operative economy.
• Defeating religious extremism.

Rojava briefly got the world’s attention and praise for its strong resistance to Daesh. It then played a leading role in defeating the group, gaining some strategic Western support in the process. But under Donald Trump’s first administration, the US quickly sold Rojava out, allowing Turkish-led forces to:

• Ethnically cleanse Afrin in the north west in 2018, committing war crimes in the process.
• Ethnically cleanse and occupy a big chunk of the north around Girê Spî (Tal Abyad) and Serê Kaniyê (Ras al-Ayn) in 2019.
• Displace hundreds of thousands of people in the process, with the support of ethnic and religious extremists.

With Israel’s genocide in Gaza destroying international law with Western support from 2023 onwards, Turkey ramped up its siege on the north in the run-up to al-Sharaa’s takeover of Syria in late 2024. Its stranglehold continues to this day.

Al-Sharaa’s ideology doesn’t match with Rojava’s. At the same time, he likely wants full control of the region’s oil to shore up his regime. His supporters in Turkey, meanwhile, have reportedly been doing their best to undermine negotiations with Rojava.

As long as al-Sharaa moderates his rhetoric and gives Western governments some of the oil, it seems they’re happy to turn away and betray Kurdish communities. Indeed, Trump showed very clearly in his first administration that self-interest is central for him.

This map gives you a good idea of why Syria's al-Sharaa might want full control of the Northeast: pic.twitter.com/fWIBHPFiNZ

— Ed Sykes (@OsoSabioUK) January 21, 2026

Siege, displacement, and reports of beheadings

Following al-Sharaa‘s takeover of Syria, Rojava’s administration has sought to reach an understanding with him. But apparently with the green light of international governments, al-Sharaa has steadily ramped up his aggression towards largely Kurdish communities in recent weeks.

On 19 January, this intensified, with al-Sharaa apparently attempting to impose Rojava’s surrender:

The ceasefire agreement signed between al Sharaa and Mazloum Abdi has been nullified after a meeting in Damascus today. Fawza Yusuf, a senior Kurdish politician in negotiations, said that Damascus was “imposing surrender”. The General Command of SDF called on people to “join the… pic.twitter.com/yRHwuesXRv

— Rojava Information Center (@RojavaIC) January 19, 2026

There has been a siege on the city of Kobane, reportedly bringing it to “the brink of collapse“:

Damascus forces have completely cut off water and electricity on Kurdish Kobane region as they are under complete besiege while clashes ongoing on southern and eastern fronts. At least 400K are deprived of water and power now. pic.twitter.com/KGwk1jjhpj

— Wladimir van Wilgenburg (@vvanwilgenburg) January 20, 2026

There have also been worrying reports of Damascus forces beheading fighters from Rojava’s defence forces – the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). And the SDF have had to prioritise self-defence over the supervision of Daesh prisoners, many of whom have now escaped (possibly with the complicity of Damascus).

Thousands of people, meanwhile, have already fled the assault. And the Kurdish Red Crescent has reported “increasing fears of genocide“. The organisation has also called out an apparent Turkish drone strike on a prosthetics centre serving the region’s large disabled population, which would be a war crime.

Is al-Sharaa overplaying his hand?

The SDF has shown previously that it’s no pushover. And al-Sharaa’s move may prove problematic for him, especially as he still faces instability in the south and east of Syria. Indeed, as the Thayer Marshall Institute’s Prof David Des Roches told Al Jazeera, if there isn’t an acceptable deal in the north east:

it’s going to be a governance problem.

That’s not just because of Rojava’s expertise. It’s also because it has allies in Kurdish regions in Turkey, Iraq, and Iran. And the SDF has already called for “all of our youth” to come out and “join the ranks of the resistance”.

The Kurds might not have any international support at the moment. It appears that many regional and global coalitions have decided to side with former al-Qaeda groups. However, this could change if the Kurds respond with strength and unity. Power recognizes only power.

The Kurds… https://t.co/lcQ33GfgD5

— Rojîn Mûkrîyan (@RojinMukriyan) January 20, 2026

The mobilisation could cause particular unrest in Turkey, whose conservative-nationalist government has long repressed its Kurdish population, committing numerous war crimes in the process.

This may have been a reason leading to a partial ceasefire late on 20 January, though the SDF noted numerous violations.

But disdain internationally and nationally for Rojava’s progressive revolution and the example it has set means that it’s never truly out of the woods.

Featured image via the Canary