The end of the year 2025 was marked by anticipation of development in the dialogue between SDF and Damascus government. Despite widespread skepticism, the narrative of Syrian civil war reaching its end has gradually become accepted in the international community. However, many living in Syria know that nothing could be further from truth. Massacres of Alawites and Druze by Damascus government have shown that the original problems which brought Syria to this point are not resolved. Now, the transitional government's assault on Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh has pushed Syria a step further down the war.
Main political and military forces of Damascus government in their base are not opposed to war as a method to establish centralized government for the whole of Syria, including atrocities and massacres. Such methods are seen as justifiable within the Salafist vision of the country. On the other hand, political developments of the new Syrian government is hardly compatible with the views of military forces of HTS and other groups that brought about the government of Ahmed Al-Shara'a. Diplomacy and deals with United States, European union and Russia; intelligence agreements with Israel, Abraham accords and surrender of Golan heights to Israel; crackdown on some foreign brigades within the new army. All of these affects how other forces engage with Ahmed Al-Shara'a and his presidency: he is gaining influence from Western powers but losing popularity in the Islamists ranks that lifted him up.
With that in mind, we can analyze that the current consolidation of political and military power of Damascus is directly linked to Turkey. The brutal attack on the Kurdish neighborhoods in Aleppo is not a step that the transitional government could or would even decide to do independently without long-term Turkish pressure and assistance. The agenda of the transitional government, its militias and the Turkish state align under leadership of Turkey, this time on the question of integration: they do not accept a federalized, decentralized and multi-confessional Syria, where political dialogue could become the new approach to contradictions and women liberation together with co-existence of diverse communities would constitute a major social revolution. Such a development would ultimately undermine the centralized power and the influence of main hegemonic actors present in the region. Without war and chaos, Turkey, United States, Russia, Israel and other states cannot sustain their existence and economies.
That is why the Syrian state massacres Kurdish people and calls the ethnic cleansing and destruction of the neighborhoods "limited security operation". That is why the Islamist groups that massacred Alawites and Druze months ago, are attacking the Kurdish neighborhoods today, while all the states watched and didn't intervene. That is also why DAANES holds Turkey accountable for the attacks.
We would like to conclude this evaluation with words of Aldar Xelil, member of the Presidential Council of the Democratic Union Party (PYD):
Mercenaries backed by regional and international powers, foremost among them Turkey, a NATO member, claim to have achieved a “victory” in the name of what they call the “Syrian State,” this claim is nothing but an illusion devoid of any moral or realistic value.
A regime that ruled Syria for decades collapsed in eight days due to the absence of the will to resist, while the two small neighborhoods of Al-Ashrafiyah and Sheikh Maqsoud resisted for six days and continue to resist relentlessly, despite being besieged from four sides since the fall of the regime. This alone proves that any so-called “victory” over such will is nothing but self-mockery.
This people has faced multiple forces, supporting states, and various types of weapons, alongside massive Turkish support through drones, yet it has not surrendered. Its free will is immortal, renewing itself across time and place, affirming that resistance is not a temporary event but a continuous path toward freedom.
Revolutionary greetings!