Syria: Al-Qaeda–Linked Regime Targets Kurds in Ethnic Cleansing

 Syria’s Islamist government, led by Ahmed al-Sharaa—also known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani—is currently waging attacks against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Since January 6, an estimated 150,000 people, including Kurds, Christians, and Yazidis, have been internally displaced by forces loyal to Julani.

Julani is the head of the terrorist group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). The SDF is a U.S. ally who fought against the Islamic State (ISIS) for over a decade. 

This is the third ethnic cleansing campaign that HTS, backed by Turkey, has conducted since taking over the country’s capital of Damascus in December 2024. The first two campaigns targeted the Alawites and the Druze. Thousands of members of the Alawite and Druze religious minorities in the country were murdered or abducted by Julani’s forces. 

HTS, due to its affiliation with al-Qaeda and ISIS, is blacklisted as a terrorist organization by the UN Security Council. The designation has been transposed to European Union law and is followed by all 27 EU member states.

The ongoing attacks conducted by Julani’s armed forces started on January 6 in the Kurdish-majority neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh (the northern part of Aleppo). 

Videos have since been posted on social media showing Julani’s terrorist forces kidnapping and abusing Kurdish women and beating Kurdish men whom they have abducted. One video shows jihadists throwing a Kurdish woman off a building. Another shows Julani’s terrorists abducting young Kurdish women, describing them as “a gift” [sexual slaves] to someone called “mujahid [jihadist].” Videos also show Kurdish fighters from the SDF, including female fighters, being massacred.

Syria: Al-Qaeda–Linked Regime Targets Kurds in Ethnic Cleansing ━ The European Conservative