 on Monday called for mass mobilization across Kurdish communities in Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Europe, accusing Turkey and Turkey-backed groups of escalating attacks in northeastern Syria and vowing to defend cities including Derik, Hasaka and Kobani.){kind=link}
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Monday called for mass mobilization across Kurdish communities in Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Europe, accusing Turkey and Turkey-backed groups of escalating attacks in northeastern Syria and vowing to defend cities including Derik, Hasaka and Kobani.
The statement came as the SDF and Syrian government forces traded accusations over clashes in the northeast, including fighting around detention facilities holding thousands of Islamic State detainees, and after Kurdish officials said talks between SDF commander Mazloum Abdi and Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus produced no progress.
SDF General Command: "We say with great determination and will, just as our comrades made a historic resistance in Kobane in 2014 and turned Kobane into a graveyard for ISIS, which was supported by Turkey, today they show with the same will that we will turn our cities from Derik… pic.twitter.com/5P5JlwP4eR
— Wladimir van Wilgenburg (@vvanwilgenburg) January 19, 2026
In the same period, Kurdish officials and affiliated media also circulated claims that captured SDF fighters were beheaded by Damascus-linked factions, framing the alleged killings as executions carried out “in Islamic State style,” a claim that could not be independently verified.
Turkey has not publicly addressed the allegation, while it has long denied targeting civilians and says its operations in Syria aim to remove what it describes as terrorist threats along its border.
The new escalation unfolded a day after Damascus and the SDF announced a 14-point agreement meant to integrate the Kurdish-led force and its administration into the Syrian state, including border crossings, oil and gas sites and detention facilities. The deal was presented as a turning point in Syria’s postwar consolidation, but the two sides continue to dispute what integration will look like in practice.
Turkey considers the SDF an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies. The SDF has been the US’s main partner in the fight against the Islamic State group and has controlled large areas of northeastern Syria since the civil war began in 2011.