Al-Sulaymaniyah honors Iraqi Kurd killed fighting with SDF

Shafaq News- Al-Sulaymaniyah

Hundreds gathered in Iraqi Kurdistan Region’s Al-Sulaymaniyah province on Wednesday to mark the death of Ahmed Omar, a Kurdish fighter from Kirkuk who was killed in Rojava* after joining the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

For weeks, Kurds demonstrations in parts of Syria, the Kurdistan Region, and several European countries in support of the SDF amid recent clashes in northeast Syria and calls by the SDF for Kurdish youths to enlist.

Rubar Ahmed, speaking for a committee supporting western Kurdistan, told Shafaq News that Omar “belongs to all four parts of Kurdistan,” while the fallen’s uncle, Jamal Ahmed, urged continued unity and support for Kurdish areas in Syria.

Syrian security forces this week began deploying to parts of the northeast under a ceasefire agreement reached on January 30 following weeks of escalation. The deal provides for Interior Ministry forces to enter the centers of Hasakah and Qamishli as part of a phased integration of military, security, and administrative structures. Sources earlier told Shafaq News that the integration process is expected to extend to key sites, including oil and gas fields, Qamishli airport, border crossings, and institutions run by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.

Read more: Syria’s calm: An end to threat or a start of a complex security phase for Iraq?

* Rojava refers to the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), a self-governing region in northern and northeastern Syria that emerged during the civil war after 2012 and is secured mainly by the SDF.