ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Internal Security Forces (Asayish) of northeast Syria (Rojava) denied on Thursday evening the rumors regarding their forces having besieged a number of government institutions and centers belonging to the Syrian regime in the city of Qamishli, stressing that their forces have always worked hard to “preserve service and social centers and prevent their sabotage.”
Rumors circulated on Thursday morning, stating that the Asayish had taken control of several institutions and centers that operate under the Syrian regime in Qamishli, and that the forces had initially allowed the employees to enter their workplaces in the morning but asked them to leave soon after.
“We clarify that these rumors and information are false, and we clarify that our forces are conducting extensive security measures in areas where forces of the Syrian regime are present,” read a statement from the Asayish on Thursday evening, adding that they were taking these measures in response to “the unjust siege on our people by the military and security forces of the Syrian regime in the Sheikh Maqsood neighborhood of Aleppo.”
Tensions arose earlier in the week between the Asayish and the Syrian regime forces, as checkpoints belonging to the latter prevented the entry of foodstuffs and fuel into the neighborhoods of Ashrafia and Sheikh Maqsood, which have a Kurdish majority in the city of Aleppo, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) monitoring body.
The statement from the Internal Security Forces added that their forces, since their formation, have worked hard to preserve the service and social centers and prevent them from being sabotaged, insisting that they would never "prevent the work of service centers and prohibit their employees from working."
