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Anarchism in Syria emerged as a largely disorganized movement during the authoritarian rule of the Assad government, but following the initiation of the Arab Spring has been a particularly notable factor in the Rojava conflict during the civil uprising phase of the Syrian civil war.
In the late 19th century, Syrians were at the forefront of the Arab anarchist movements in Egypt and Beirut, spreading anarchist ideas through the publication the radical periodicals Al Hilal and Al Muqtataf and organizing radical theatre performances. [1]
Following the independence of Syria from France at the end of World War II, the new Syrian Republic was constituted as a parliamentary democracy. Despite a brief period of military dictatorship under Adib Shishakli during the early 1950s, parliamentarism was restored in 1954. However, power was still largely concentrated in the hands of the military, with the weakness of the parliamentary system leading to the rise of socialist and nationalist ideologies, particularly Nasserism and Ba'athism. After briefly uniting with Egypt to form the United Arab Republic, a coup d'état restored Syrian independence in 1961. But an unstable political climate led to another coup d'état in 1963, which brought Syria under the rule of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. [2] [3]
A power struggle within the party eventually culminated in the seizure of power by a military faction led by Hafez al-Assad, who became the President of Syria. Assad oversaw the transformation of Syria into an authoritarian one-party state, gave more space to private property, organized state services along sectarian lines and created a cult of personality around himself. [4] When Hafez al-Assad died in 2000, his son Bashar al-Assad succeeded him as president. [3] The new political climate gave way to the Damascus Spring, which called for a number of reforms including an end to the state of emergency that had been imposed since 1963. However, this movement was suppressed by the government, [5] which intensified authoritarian rule in the country and introduced a number of neoliberal market reforms. [6]
Due to the authoritarianism of the Assad government, the anarchist movement was rather limited in its organizing capacity. Nevertheless, a number of Syrian individuals began to become prominent voices in the wider Arab anarchist movement, including Mazen Kamalmaz, Nader Atassi and Omar Aziz. It wasn't until the outbreak of the civil uprising in 2011 that the Syrian anarchist movement took on a more organized form. [7]
When the Syrian civil uprising first broke out on March 15, 2011, a number of Syrian anarchists were among the participants. The anarchist Omar Aziz, who had recently returned to the country, helped to distribute humanitarian aid in the areas of Damascus under attack by the Assad government. Inspired by the solidarity and mutual aid he had experienced, Aziz published The Formation of Local Councils in November 2011, detailing a vision of self-governance as a route for emancipation from the state. The paper quickly became one of the core theoretical proposals for revolutionary strategy, circulated among Syrians that were rising up against the Assad government. [8] Revolutionary councils subsequently began to form at district and city levels, both in rebel-held and government-held territory, to ensure people were provided with basic services, to coordinate local committees and liaise with the nascent armed resistance, taking over many of the functions that were previously held by the state. [9] From these local organizations, a number of umbrella groups formed to coordinate action on a regional and national level, including the Local Coordination Committees (LCC) and the Syrian Revolution General Commission (SRGC).
However, with the escalation of the conflict, the grassroots elements of the Syrian civil uprising began to face repression, both by the Assad government and by members of the Syrian opposition. In government-held territory, Omar Aziz was arrested by the Air Force Intelligence Directorate and detained in an overcrowded prison, where he died from health complications in February 2013. [10] In rebel-held territory such as Raqqa, Idlib and Aleppo, Islamist groups such as the Al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant began to take power away from the local councils and transferred it into the hands of Sharia courts, to the protest of the local populations. [11]
Nevertheless, local councils continued to grow throughout Syria. In July 2013, 128 local councils were listed by the Syrian Nonviolence Movement. [12] And according to the Local Administration Council Unit, by March 2016, an estimated 395 local councils existed in rebel-held territories. [13] But these newly created councils were largely excluded from political participation by the Syrian National Council, so resolved to form their own national organization. [14]
On January 16, 2011, the Movement for a Democratic Society (TEV-DEM) was established by the Democratic Union Party (PYD) with the goal of organizing northern Syria along the lines of democratic confederalism, [15] [16] a system of self-governance inspired by the libertarian socialist theories of Murray Bookchin. [17] In July 2012, the People's Protection Units (YPG) captured the Kurdish cities of Kobanî, Amuda and Efrin without resistance, [18] after the Syrian Arab Army pulled out of the cities to fight elsewhere, [19] and began to establish a self-governed autonomous region in Northern Syria. [20] On January 9, 2014, the PYD officially announced the autonomy of the cantons in Northern Syria. An Autonomous Administration was constituted and popular assemblies were established by its residents.
On September 15, 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant launched the Siege of Kobanî, [21] the culmination of a year-long offensive into northern Syria. But by late January 2015, the YPG-led forces recapture the city, driving ISIL back. [22] Some of the defenders of Kobanî were made up by international volunteers of the United Freedom Forces, including the Turkish green anarchist group Social Insurrection, which had been founded in Tuzluçayır in 2013. [23] The internationalist participation in the battle for Kobanî inspired the formation of the International Freedom Battalion (IFB), which united left-wing foreign fighters in support of the Autonomous Administration. [24]
The first of the anarchist detachments to volunteer was the Revolutionary Union for Internationalist Solidarity (RUIS), a Greek anarcho-communist squad founded in April 2015. [25] On March 31, 2017, the International Revolutionary People's Guerrilla Forces (IRPGF) was established and affiliated to the IFB, becoming the second international anarchist detachment to volunteer.
During the Raqqa campaign, the RUIS [26] and IRPGF were among the participants on the side of the Syrian Democratic Forces, while some anarchist volunteers were integrated directly into the YPG itself. [27] During the campaign, anarchist detachments fought in the Battle of Tabqa and the Battle of Raqqa, playing a role in the SDF victory on the Raqqa front. After the capture of Raqqa, the IRPGF announced the formation of The Queer Insurrection and Liberation Army (TQILA), a queer anarchist detachment formed in order to combat the persecution of LGBT people by ISIL. [28] [29] The Anarchist Struggle (TA) was also established around this time, becoming the fourth international anarchist detachment to be integrated into the IFB. [30]
At the beginning of 2018, the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) and the Syrian National Army (SNA) launched an invasion of Efrin. Anarchist detachments including RUIS and TA were among the internationalists that attempted to defend the canton. [31] On February 24, the Icelandic anarchist Haukur Hilmarsson, was killed while fighting as part of RUIS. [32] On March 4, the Turkish anarchist Şevger Ara Makhno was killed, while fighting as part of TA. [33] Despite the resistance, on March 18, the Turkish-led forces captured Afrin city [34] and pacified the remainder of Afrin District over the subsequent week. [35]
TA was subsequently transferred to fight in the resumed Deir ez-Zor campaign, in an operation to capture what remained of ISIL's dwindling territories along the Euphrates. On March 18, 2019, during the Battle of Baghuz Fawqani, the Italian anarchist Lorenzo Orsetti was killed in an ambush, while fighting as part of TA. [36]
The Democratic Union Party is a Kurdish left-wing political party established on 20 September 2003 in northern Syria. It is a founding member of the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change. It is the leading political party among Syrian Kurds. The PYD was established as a Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in 2003, and both organizations are still closely affiliated through the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK).
The People's Defense Units (YPG), also called People's Protection Units, is a socialist US-backed Kurdish militant group in Syria and the primary component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), also known as Rojava, is a de facto autonomous region in northeastern Syria. It consists of self-governing sub-regions in the areas of Afrin, Jazira, Euphrates, Raqqa, Tabqa, Manbij, and Deir Ez-Zor. The region gained its de facto autonomy in 2012 in the context of the ongoing Rojava conflict and the wider Syrian civil war, in which its official military force, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), has taken part.
The Rojava–Islamist conflict, a major theater in the Syrian civil war, started after fighting erupted between the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and Islamist rebel factions in the city of Ras al-Ayn. Kurdish forces launched a campaign in an attempt to take control of the Islamist-controlled areas in the governorate of al-Hasakah and some parts of Raqqa and Aleppo governorates after al-Qaeda in Syria used those areas to attack the YPG. The Kurdish groups and their allies' goal was also to capture Kurdish areas from the Arab Islamist rebels and strengthen the autonomy of the region of Rojava. The Syrian Democratic Forces would go on to take substantial territory from Islamist groups, in particular the Islamic State (IS), provoking Turkish involvement in the Syrian Civil War.
Euphrates Region, formerly Kobanî Canton, is the central of three original regions of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, comprising Ayn al-Arab District of the Aleppo Governorate, Tell Abyad District of the Raqqa Governorate, and the westernmost tip of the Ras al-Ayn Subdistrict of the Ras al-Ayn District of Al-Hasakah Governorate. Euphrates Region unilaterally declared autonomy in January 2014 and since de facto is under direct democratic government in line with the polyethnic Constitution of Rojava.
The siege of Kobanî was launched by the Islamic State (IS) on 13 September 2014, in order to capture the Kobanî Canton and its main city of Kobanî in northern Syria, in the de facto autonomous region of Rojava.
The Women's Protection Units or Women's Defense Units is an all-female militia involved in the Syrian civil war. The YPJ is part of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the armed forces of Rojava, and is closely affiliated with the male-led YPG. While the YPJ is mainly made up of Kurds, it also includes women from other ethnic groups in Northern Syria.
The International Freedom Battalion, commonly abbreviated as IFB or EÖT, is a revolutionary socialist armed group consisting of leftist foreign fighters fighting for the People's Defense Units in the Syrian Civil War in support of the Rojava Revolution and against the Turkish Armed Forces, the Syrian National Army, and Islamic State. The formation of the IFB was announced in June 2015 in Ras al-Ayn. Inspiration for the group came from the International Brigades of the Spanish Civil War. The political ideologies of the fighters include anarchism, Marxism–Leninism, Hoxhaism, Maoism, and anarcho-communism.
AANES–Ba'athist Syria relations concern the military and political relations between the Ba'athist Syrian Arab Republic and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), a de facto autonomous multi-ethnic region in northern and eastern Syria. The Syrian government does not officially recognise the autonomy of the AANES, and advocates a centralist approach to the governance of Syria. The NES seeks the federalisation of Syria. For most of the Syrian civil war, there has been a non-aggression pact between the military of Syria and the Syrian Democratic Forces, with occasional confrontations and some cooperation against Islamist groups, in particular against the Turkish Armed Forces and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army. While the two sides co-operated militarily under Russian supervision since 2019, with Syrian and Russian troops stationed along the Turkish border to prevent further advances, political negotiations have ended in failure. The Syrian government has no authority or institutions in North and East Syria outside of its two security boxes in Qamishli/Qamislo and Al-Hasakah/Heseke. The Autonomous Administration does not allow the Syrian Government to hold elections in areas under its control.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is a Kurdish-led coalition of U.S.-backed ethnic militias and rebel groups, and serves as the official military wing of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). The SDF is allied to and supplied by the United States–led CJTF–OIR international alliance. Founded on 10 October 2015, the SDF claims that its mission is fighting to create a secular, democratic and federalized Syria. The SDF is opposed by Turkey, which claims the group has direct links to the PKK, which is recognized as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States, the European Union, and some other countries.
The Rojava conflict, also known as the Rojava Revolution, is a political upheaval and military conflict taking place in northern Syria, known among Kurds as Western Kurdistan or Rojava.
The Battle of Tel Abyad was a raid by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant on the YPG-held town of Tell Abyad at the end of February 2016, during the Syrian Civil War.
Faisal Abdi Bilal Saadoun, widely known as Abu Leyla or Abu Layla, was a commander in both the Free Syrian Army and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). He is regarded by many as a hero of the Rojava–Islamist conflict.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has many military councils for local security and defense, each being accountable to the civil council of the area they operate in.
Rojda Felat is a Syrian Kurdish senior commander of the Women's Protection Units (YPJ) and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who has fought in the Rojava conflict since it began in 2012, and has led several major campaigns against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). A revolutionary feminist, Felat's stated goal is to achieve social transformation in the Middle East through the YPJ, "liberating the Kurdish woman and the Syrian woman in general from the ties and control of traditional society, as well as liberating the entirety of Syria from terrorism and tyranny".
In course of the Raqqa campaign (2016–2017), an international coalition, primarily composed of the Syrian Democratic Forces and CJTF–OIR, captured the Raqqa Governorate from the Islamic State, which had declared Raqqa city the capital of its self-proclaimed caliphate.
The International Revolutionary People's Guerrilla Forces (IRPGF) was a collective of anarchist fighters from around the world. Its formation was announced on 31 March 2017. According to the group, their goals were to defend the social revolution in Rojava in northern Syria, and to spread anarchism. The group announced its dissolution on 24 September 2018.
The Northern Democratic Brigade is a Free Syrian Army unit that is closely allied to the Syrian Kurdish YPG and YPJ in Afrin Region since 2014. Led by Absi Taha, Alexander Khalil, and Alexander Alaa, it also joined the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in November 2015. The initial members of the group originated from Jabal Zawiya in Idlib, and it has recruited Arabs from Idlib, Aleppo, and other cities in northern Syria since allying with the YPG. Since joining the SDF, the unit has begun to operate across much of northern and eastern Syria, participating in operations against anti-SDF Syrian opposition factions, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the Turkish Armed Forces, and the Syrian National Army.
The Revolutionary Union for Internationalist Solidarity, also known as RUIS is an anarchist military unit, part of the International Freedom Battalion involved in the Syrian Civil War. It was founded in 2015. In 2017, Greek authorities estimated the size of the group at five or six.
The YPG International or People's Protection Units International is a military unit made up of foreign fighters in the Syrian Democratic Forces. It was created in December 2016 as the Antifascist International Tabûr (AIT) of the People's Protection Units (YPG). The unit is part of the Syrian Democratic Forces in the Syrian Civil War.
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