Kurdish Councils in Aleppo Reject Evacuation, Prefer Self-Defense to 'Surrender'
Kurdish councils in Syria’s Aleppo, specifically Ashrafiyah and Sheikh Maksoud districts, have rejected calls to evacuate, labeling them a 'call to surrender,' and pledging to 'defend their neighborhoods' (Al-Monitor). This comes amidst ongoing fighting between Kurdish forces and Syrian government fighters. One might wonder why, after a decade of shifting international allegiances and repeated
abandonment, any group would trust a call to 'evacuate' from areas they control. This isn't just about 'days of fighting'; it's about a consistent pattern where Kurdish forces have been used as proxies by various international powers, only to be left vulnerable when geopolitical winds shift. President Trump's abrupt 2019 withdrawal from northern Syria, for example, directly enabled a Turkish
offensive against Kurdish forces that had fought ISIS alongside the US. So, when the world offers 'safe passage,' forgive them for hearing 'clearance for ethnic engineering.' How many times have we seen a 'ceasefire deal' precede displacement?