Syrian regime, Rojava end recent sieges on neighborhoods

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Syrian regime and Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria (Rojava) reached an agreement on Thursday to put an end to the sieges they recently imposed on each other’s neighborhoods, an informed source told Rudaw. 

Last month, the regime prevented the import of flour, fuel, medicine and other essentials like children’s milk into the Kurdish-held neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsood and Ashrafiya in the country’s northwest Aleppo province. In return, the Kurdish security forces imposed a siege on regime-held areas in Qamishli, sparking protests by the residents of both areas. 

Ibrahim Shekho, spokesperson for the Afrin-based Human Rights Organization, has been closely monitoring the situation. He told Rudaw English late Thursday that Kurdish officials told him they had reached an agreement to end all sieges. 

“As a result, 32 tons of flour were imported. More will be imported tomorrow. The siege was on flour, fuel, medicine, and other needs. People were allowed to carry only a limited amount of money when leaving the neighborhoods,” he said. 

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) also reported the agreement between the regime and Kurdish officials.

Shekho added that the ban has been removed on everything, and that the situation has returned to as it was before, nearly a month ago when the regime sieges began. 

He lives in nearby Shahba camp which has previously suffered from sieges by the regime. The camp is home to hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) who fled the Turkish invasion of their hometown of Afrin in 2018. 

The Sheikh Maqsood and Ashrafiya neighborhoods have been run by a Kurdish administration linked to the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES) since 2019. Some 18,000 families - including Afrin IDPs - live there, according to the North Press Agency.

The Syrian regime has administrative, service and intelligence offices in the Kurdish-held city of Qamishli where the regime and Kurdish forces have clashed several times in recent years. 

Kurdish Internal Security Forces (Asayish) entered the regime-held neighborhoods, later clarifiying that its intention was not to control it but to conduct “extensive security measures” in response to the regime siege on Sheikh Maqsood.