Middle East

Matthew Petti | 1.20.2026 5:32 PM

The Kurdish rebels of Rojava, the northeastern region of Syria, promised a type of revolution that had never been done before. Rather than trying to break the country into ethnic states, they would join with their neighbors to decentralize the state from below. And for over a decade, it seemed to work. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) brought together Kurdish, Arab, Assyrian, and other militias in a multiethnic, feminist, anarchist-inspired revolution.

That dream has come crashing down over the past few days. Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who took over Damascus in the 2024 revolution, launched an offensive against the SDF last week. Arab tribes that had fought alongside the SDF for years suddenly turned on a dime, and the SDF was squeezed back into a handful of Kurdish cities. On Tuesday, the two sides agreed to a four-day ceasefire in order to negotiate the next steps. Whatever comes of it, the........

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