A-Infos (en) Siria, Rojava: WAR UPDATES: WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS 05.05.25 - 11.05.25 TEKOSINA ANARSIST (ca, de, it, pt, tr) [machine translation]

Visit al-Sharaa in France: ---- Al-Sharaa visited France to have a 
meeting with Emmanuel Macron. News reported Macron's proposal to 
strengthen the cooperation of the new government with SDF in the fight 
against ISIS. In the press conference after the meeting, The French 
president congratulated the common efforts of Syria's transitional 
government and the Syrian Democratic Forces that resulted in the 
agreements of the 10th of March, calling it "an important stage in 
Syria's history". Macron called for a continuation of "the gradual 
lifting of European economic sanctions" if the new Islamist authorities 
stabilize the country. He added that USA should follow the same path and 
also should, "as long as possible", not withdraw American troops from Syria.
Demonstrations organized by Syrian migrants took place in France to 
denounce the meeting with the former leader of HTS. This meeting 
happened a week after a declaration from the foreign affairs ministry 
condemning the massacres perpetuated on the Druze population of Suweida. 
The declaration urged the Damascus transitional government to take back 
the control of a situation caused by "outlawed groups".

New appointment in Damascus forces:
On May 5th (Monday), Damascus transitional government appointed Ahmad 
al-Hays (Abu Hatem Shaqra) as new leader of the 86th division, 
responsible of security of the areas of Deir Ezzor, Raqqa and Hasaka. In 
2018, he was implicated in the trafficking of Yazidi women and children 
and in recruiting former ISIS members. He is also responsible of the 
brutal murder of Hevrin Khalaf in 2019, who was the general secretary of 
the Future Syrian Party. Ahmad Al-Hayes is on the U.S. sanctions list 
accused of grave human rights abuses and links to the Islamic State 
(ISIS). A statement from the DAANES condemned the appointment. Kongra 
Star, the main structure of the women's movement in Syria called for 
accountability, requiring the revocation of Al-Hays appointment and an 
apology to the family of Hevrin Khalef. On Thursday, the U.S. State 
Department strongly criticized the transitional Syrian government for 
this appointment in a press conference.

Continuation of the tensions in Suweida:
The tensions that started last week in the region of Suweida escalated. 
On thursday, forces connected to the military council of Suweida carried 
out an ambush on a car of the security forces of Damascus. The 
escalating violence pushed 300 students to be evacuated out from their 
university in emergency. Agreements are being made for Security forces 
of Damascus recently deployed in the area to withdraw, letting local 
police security forces from Suweida to take care of security. Different 
groups from the Druze community are calling for restraint and 
cooperation with Damascus government, while the military council of 
Suweida seems determined to fight for the defense of the Druze autonomy.

Victory on Tishreen:
The DAANES put an end to the rotations of civilians convoys going to 
Tirshin to support the SDF forces fighting. In the final statement of 
the last civilian convoy, victory was declared. The resistance of the 
dam stopped the attacks of turkish proxy forces, preventing the invasion 
of Kobane and further war against the DAANES territories. They 
remembered and thanked all those who gave their life in the defense of 
the dam, both civilians and military, as well as all those injured in 
the resistance.
Forces connected to the transitional government continue to be deployed 
in the surrounding villages, as SDF also continues reinforcing the 
region. For now, the military conflict is over, but clashes can restart 
in a near future if the negotiations don't reach satisfactory agreements 
for both sides.

PKK 12th congress:
Between the 5th and the 7th of may, PKK held its 12th congress. 
Proposals and perspectives from Abdullah Ocalan were read and discussed, 
together with a report of the PKK Central Committee. PKK commemorated 
the martyrs of the revolution and called on "patriotic people and all 
democratic socialist forces to properly embrace and live in accordance 
with all the national and democratic values". They announced that more 
details about the the congress will be published in the coming days.

Evaluation:

The resistance in Tishreen declared victory over the attacks of Turkish 
proxies, concluding almost 4 months of civilian vigil. People from all 
territories of the DAANES, from Kobane to Deir Ezzor, joined this 
popular initiative to defend the dam and stop the enemy advance. The 
combination of military defense and civilian resistance is a clear 
example of how the revolutionary principles of this revolution are put 
in practice. It shows the will and determination of the people of 
North-East Syria, ready to fight to protect their land and defend the 
achievements of the revolution. It also shows the value of diversity of 
tactics, how different elements can combine and support each other if 
they share common revolutionary aims.

The appointment of Abu Hatem Shaqra as leader of the 86th division is 
bold decision that will have serious implications. The Damascus 
government making such appointment is an attempt to exercise power and 
demonstrate authority over North-East Syria, questioning SDF and the 
inhabitants of North eastern Syria. It is a direct and conscious 
provocation from a newly born authoritarian regime, that will for sure 
undermine the already challenging negotiation for integration of SDF in 
the new Syrian army. Abu Hatem Shaqra's connection to the turkish secret 
services is beyond question: he was the commander of a turkish backed 
group (Ahrar al-Sharqiya) and joined several meetings organized by the 
MIT during the Afrin war. For turkey, positioning SNA commanders like 
Abu Hatem Shaqra or Fahim Issa (nominated at the head of the ministry of 
defense of Syria a month ago) in the higher ranks of the new Syrian Army 
is a way to ensure influence and to guarantee the alignment of the new 
Syrian army with Turkish interests. His appointment also questions the 
US, which has his name on a terrorist list and already made statements 
condemning such decision.

The visit of al-Sharaa in France may seem a contradictory event, 
specially when UN and many French politicians opposed such a visit. The 
French president made special permission for him, allowing the head of 
the transitional government to visit Europe for the first time. For 
al-Sharaa, this trip is another step towards legitimacy, probably hoping 
that other European states will follow the French example, also 
gathering support for the EU to lift economic sanctions on Syria. The 
French president emphasized their wish for the Syrian transitional 
government to strengthen collaboration with SDF, knowing that many 
international ISIS fighters in NES prisons have French nationality. 
Discussions about the new Syrian government taking control of ISIS 
prisons, as Turkey already proposed, necessarily rings the alarms for 
many countries. Intelligence services all over the world are worried 
about the future of those experienced salafist militants, especially if 
the current islamist government takes control of those prisons. Even if 
we can't be sure about it, this was probably one of the main reasons 
that motivated French state to invite al-Shara.

News about the recent congress of PKK are also raising questions about 
what implications will it have not only for Syria, but for all parts of 
Kurdistan. As for now not much information is available on what 
agreements were reached in the congress, but it is expected that 
official statements will soon be published.

Revolutionary greetings!

https://tekosinaanarsist.noblogs.org/weekly-highlights-05-05-25-11-05-25/
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