Jihan Zammo

Shingal— Militants from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) have launched intense attacks in recent days on the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods of Aleppo, resulting in a high number of casualties, including women and children, in what reflects the direct targeting of civilians.

From the first day of the attacks, residents from all four parts of Kurdistan took to the streets in protests condemning the assaults carried out by HTS militants on Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh. Commenting on the developments, Zahdiya Shamo, a member of the Council of the Ezidi Women’s Freedom Movement (TAJÊ), said the attacks carry particular significance for the residents of the two neighborhoods.

“What is happening today in Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh is not an isolated incident, but the execution of systematic orders,” she said, adding that “through our activities, we aim to demonstrate our full support for the residents there. The people of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh have been subjected to violent attacks that have claimed many lives in a brutal manner. There are serious threats facing the peoples of North and East Syria, which makes it imperative for everyone to stand with the resistance of the residents of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh.”

She stressed that armed groups carried out large-scale attacks on both neighborhoods, resulting in numerous casualties. “It is essential that everyone—especially the Ezidi community—supports the people of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh. If we do not stand with them today, these attacks will soon reach our own community,” she warned.

For her part, Leila Sharaf, a member of TAJÊ in Tel Ezir, spoke about what she described as violent assaults carried out by HTS militants. “Civilians were directly targeted, hospitals were attacked, and the wounded were prevented from receiving treatment. This is an assault that violates all humanitarian values and is completely unacceptable,” she said.

She noted that the events unfolding in Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh evoke memories of August 3, 2014. “Our mothers and children were killed then, and today the same scene is repeating itself against the residents of these neighborhoods,” she said, adding that the attacks have continued for days while the international community has remained a bystander to the massacres committed against civilians, without taking any meaningful action.

Sharaf issued a special appeal to Ezidi women, saying, “Just as the peoples of North and East Syria mobilized all their capabilities on August 3, 2014, to support our community, it is now our duty—especially as Ezidi women—to confront these attacks with a spirit of resistance and mobilization. As long as blood runs through .