| Abstract |
"Descending from survivors of Ottoman-era atrocities, the Kurdish and Christian minorities in northern Syria were once again faced with annihilation when the Islamic State surged into their homelands. Joining forces, they formed an unlikely alliance even before the United States had entered the fray, leading a Global Coalition. Within a few years, the Kurdish-led outlawed militia known as the YPG/YPJ evolved into a multi-ethnic, multi-religious force in which the diverse peoples of the region were represented: Arabs from every tribe, Assyrian and Syriac Christians, Armenians, Yezidis, Circassians, Syrian Turkmen, and Kurds joined the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), fighting side-by-side to defend their land and defeat the Caliphate. One grueling battle at a time, the SDF expanded far beyond the Kurdish heartland known as Rojava into Arab-majority population centers. By the time the Islamic State was vanquished in March 2019, over 11,000 young SDF fighters laid buried in cemeteries. But their triumph over ISIS is only half the story. In defiance of the Assad regime, the Islamic State, and Turkey, the peoples of Northeast Syria created a de-facto state. While the SDF's battle against ISIS was supported by the Global Coalition against Daesh, including some 85 member countries and partners, the statelet they created is recognized by no one. That is the paradox this book seeks to explain. In 2012 the forces of Bashar al-Assad withdrew from the north of Syria to turn their guns on rebels in the south. Into the vacuum stepped the Syrian offshoot of the PKK. As the "Arab Spring" protests in Damascus and elsewhere descended into a brutal civil war, the Kurds in the north set up a rudimentary Self-Administration in three cantons: Afrin, Kobani, and Jazira. They were surrounded by enemies. The cantons that declared self-rule were not even connected to each other. Their chances of survival were slim. Then the Islamic State took over large chunks of Syria. While ISIS carried out beheadings on the main square of Raqqa, the Kurds audaciously promoted women into the most powerful positions of their Autonomous Administration. These women were the vanguard of a new kind of social experiment: the "Rojava Revolution." Instead of demanding the fall of Assad's regime, they wanted autonomy from the regime. Eight years later, they controlled one-third of Syria and two-thirds of its resources. They then had to govern it. And so they built a statelet. This local government has changed names over the years, and is now known as the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). Their experiment in self-rule is more inclusive, and does more to give real power to women and minorities, than any other region of Syria. Fractured by a decade of war, Syria is currently divided into four zones of control: the Assad regime, whose family has now ruled the country for half a century, still maintains a grip over the southern and western parts of Syria, the US-backed SDF holds the ground in the northern and eastern regions, Turkey and its proxies have carved out a swath of territory along the border, while an assortment of rebel and jihadist groups control Idlib. Each of these four zones manifest divergent forms of governance. Bashar al-Assad, having inherited the presidential palace from his father, Hafez al-Assad, showed little interest in making even nominal concessions to the citizenry who rose up to demand democracy and human rights starting in the spring of 2011. After Russia and Iran stepped in to support him in 2015, his willingness to compromise was diminished even further. Assad now claims to have won the war, although he only controls about 60% of the country"-- Provided by publisher. |
