The Syrian people had hope and a desire for a tolerant and sound democratic society where human dignity is constitutionally and practically protected after the 14-year Syrian revolution. However, those hopes were dashed, and those who came after were even worse, making us long for the old regime. Since Ahmed al-Sharaa (Abu Muhammad al-Julani), head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (a terrorist organization, whose designation was removed to allow al-Sharaa to visit America), assumed the presidency of Syria, killing, looting, and massacres have become daily occurrences for Syrian citizens. What the dictator Bashar al-Assad failed to do in 14 years, al-Sharaa and his allies from al-Qaeda, ISIS, and Jabhat al-Nusra accomplished in a single year. The Syrian government has become the property of terrorist organizations. The president is the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra, one of the extremist Islamic organizations formed from the ideology and supporters of al-Qaeda. The Syrian Foreign Minister, Asaad al-Shaibani, is a leader in terrorist organizations, as are the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Economy, and the Minister of Entertainment. And so on…

As for the provinces, all the governors are leaders in either Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda, or ISIS.

The most recent was the governor of Raqqa, Abdul Rahman Salama, appointed on January 19, 2026, who is a leader in Jabhat al-Nusra.

The Raqqa region is the capital of ISIS and the Islamic State. A jihadist was appointed to manage the province, and his first achievement was opening ISIS prisons and releasing ISIS members and their families. If this government continues to be tolerated, the large prisons, which are full of ISIS members captured during the cooperation of the coalition and the Syrian Democratic Forces, will all be opened. Where are America and the international coalition? Their silence terrifies me; it is tacit approval.

Since January 6, the Syrian government, with the help of ISIS and under orders from the Turkish government, has been waging a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Kurds in Syria. For 14 years, the Kurds in Syria were a strong and essential ally of America and the Western countries in confronting terrorism. They sacrificed 15,000 fighters for this campaign, and the reward was? America and the international coalition abandoned them? They trust ISIS and reward ISIS, then? These events are unfolding before the eyes of the international community. The Syrian state boasts of its soldiers bearing the banner of “There is no god but God,” while Turkey revels in the annihilation of the Kurds. Most importantly, the scenes of pre-Islamic barbarism have returned, with the killing of our youth and the enslavement of our women, turning them into spoils of war for the mujahideen. Kurds and Yazidis have not been spared from genocide and the attacks of Turkey and ISIS on Kurdish areas in Syria.

The Syrian government has already committed genocide against other minorities, such as the Druze and Alawites, and now the Kurds and Yazidis. What a dark and painful policy, where the equations change overnight. Everyone agrees on the annihilation of the Kurds, who were once the most loyal partners of the Americans in the fight against terrorism. Even now, they are exterminating us. But a message to the international community: Will the ISIS prisons be opened now? What will happen? They welcomed jihadists, killing, and destruction all over the world. Your Kurdish allies have already made sacrifices and continue to do so, because anyone who confronts terrorism will inevitably face repercussions, and we have already suffered the consequences. The international community’s endorsement of the interim president of Syria is tantamount to endorsing his terrorist acts against the people. What kind of policy and justice is this when you place the fight against terrorism in the hands of ISIS? Will they kill themselves, for example? The US envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, has appealed for and emphasized these demands: that the fight against terrorism be in the hands of the state, which is essentially ISIS, and that ISIS prisons be under the administration of the Syrian state, thus relieving the Kurds of this responsibility. If this amounts to supporting terrorism and allowing ISIS to continue, then ISIS will protect its prisons. As of this writing, the Kurds are being subjected to genocide with international approval. These are the political strategies and equations drawn up in the recent Paris Agreement, making the Kurdish ally a scapegoat. For centuries, generations have tried to exterminate us Kurds. We will not die, but we will know who our allies are and who our enemies are.

Rawan Fouad Abdi, researcher and writer
Center for Genocide Studies, University of Duhok

Foto: @mhajirinvincible