‘We are still at war’: Syria’s Kurds battle Turkey months after Assad’s fall

To reach north-east Syria, we cross a rickety floating bridge over the River Tigris. Our minibus rattles as it takes us from Iraqi Kurdistan through Syrian oil fields, where jacks pumping crude oil line the roads.

This part of Syria is controlled by Kurds, who call it Rojava – meaning western Kurdistan. Since 2012, after the outbreak of civil war, they have run it as a self-declared autonomous region, protected by Kurdish-led armed forces.

But Bashar al-Assad’s regime never recognised it and, despite his fall from power, its future remains uncertain.

As well as more than a decade of civil war, the Syrian Kurds have faced years of conflict with its northern neighbour, Turkey – a battle they are still fighting.

The fight against IS

A decade ago, the Islamic State group (IS) swept through this region, capturing cities and villages with little resistance – until it reached the city of Kobane, next to the Turkish border, in September 2014.

IS militants didn’t manage to enter the city, but they imposed a brutal siege that lasted for months.

Kurdish-led factions, supported by the US-led military coalition, broke the siege in early 2015. This January, I join the city’s residents as they mark the 10-year anniversary.

At the entrance to Kobane, women in their 50s, armed with AK-47 assault rifles, guard the checkpoints. Women played a crucial role in the fight against IS – many volunteered in the all-female Women’s Protection Units (YPJ).

As we drive around the city, the scars of war are still visible, along with posters of young men and women who lost their lives.

But in the main square, the mood is festive. Young girls and boys, dressed in colourful Kurdish outfits dance hand in hand, singing as they celebrate.

For the older generation, though, it is a bittersweet moment. “Last night I lit candles for my martyred brother and others killed in Kobane,” says Newrouz Ahmad, a 45-year-old mother of four. “It is a joyful day, but also a painful one. I wish he was here to see it.”

Conflict with Turkey

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) declared victory over IS in north-east Syria in 2019. But freedom from IS hasn’t brought lasting peace.

Turkey and a coalition of Turkish-backed rebel groups known as the Syrian National Army (SNA) have launched several military operations against SDF-controlled territories since 2016, and captured a swathe of territory running along hundreds of kilometres of the border.

Turkey considers the largest component in the SDF – the People’s Protection Units (YPG) – an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has fought for Kurdish rights in Turkey for decades and is listed by Ankara as a terrorist organisation. The country wants to push the SDF back from its border.

As the Assad regime collapsed in late 2024, the Turkish-backed SNA launched a new offensive to capture territory west of the River Euphrates from the SDF.

Now battles have reached areas near Kobane. A Kurdish commander in the city quietly tells me: “Don’t film here, we have built tunnels beneath the city to prepare for another siege.”

In the city, the smell of gasoline fills the air, and the deafening sound of generators can be heard everywhere. Locals tell me that most of the power stations, refineries, and even telecommunications antennas have been destroyed by Turkish air strikes over the past two years.

Newrouz Ahmad says that having “defeated IS in Kobane… we won’t allow Turkey and its proxies to occupy our city, we will defeat them too”.

At a restaurant, the moment people realise we are not locals, they surround us. I ask an old man with grey hair and a stick in his hands how old he is. I guess he is about 80, but the answer he gives embarrasses me. “I am 60,” he says.

It’s clear that people here have been exhausted by war, having witnessed so much death and bloodshed.

And now the threat of another battle is looming.