An Article by Journalist Silva Al-Ibrahim

In Kobani, where the siege tightens and the sounds of shelling grow louder, the people have chosen dignity as an unavoidable path. Between a torn-up surrender paper and an unbroken, solid will, the city has drawn the features of a new phase, affirming that freedom is not a postponed option, but a decision to be wrested, no matter how intense the darkness and multiplied the threats.

Kobani did not shy away from the siege despite its severity; it received 200,000 displaced people and allocated shelter centers for them. Despite the siege and the depletion of the most basic necessities of life, the displaced in the shelters did not demand aid or food baskets. Instead, they demanded a dignified life, a safe return to their homes, and rights guaranteed in the constitution after the suffering they endured from continuous wars and the sacrifices they made during the years of the revolution.

A city whose inhale is resistance and exhale is life; under its rubble, it buried the dreams of the Ottomans. Its shattered stones bear witness to the heroic epics led by the lovers of the land, 'Adula and Zain al-Asr. Its dervish is Kobani, and its mother is Mishtenur, where Arin united her body with its grains of sand. A city that possesses a shrine larger than the city itself, where Kurdistan rests, embodied in its sons and daughters—Kurdistan, fragmented into four parts, gathered by Kobani into a tableau of resistance, martyrdom, and victory, shattering on its walls the invaders bearing the black banners.

In the recent escalation that targeted areas in northeastern Syria, the city of Kobani had its share of these attacks, which aimed to end the democratic nation project, exterminate the Kurdish people, and bury their cause for another century. Although the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) chose dialogue as a path to peace, betraying agreements and treachery are traits known to the jihadists of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). The first breach was of the April 1st agreement concerning the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods—its results are too well-known to need definition, ending in violations amounting to war crimes, the displacement of their residents, and massacres committed against those who remained.

And the March 10th agreement ended in a military escalation aimed at reinforcing sectarianism among the region's components by inciting Arab tribes against the Kurdish people. Now, cities where Kurds and Arabs lived together for centuries are nearly empty of Kurds, after they were forcibly displaced under the threat of the sword and death. Now, most of them live in shelters in Kobani city and the Jazira Canton. Those who lurked for the land had their blood spilled and their heads severed, and the living among them are under pressure and threat. The recent escalation began with the stabbing of the Deir Hafer agreement, which stipulated the withdrawal of SDF forces east of the Euphrates. However, the jihadists, following Turkey's orders, continued their attacks until they reached the walls of Kobani and Hasakah. The SDF avoided confrontation to spare bloodshed. These attacks were accompanied by the reactivation of ISIS sleeper cells and the smuggling of most ISIS families from Al-Hol camp and mercenaries from Al-Shaddadi prisons.

More than 80 villages in the Kobani countryside entered by HTS jihadists were subjected to looting and plunder after most of their residents were forcibly displaced, while those who remained were killed and humiliated. Anyone attempting to return to their village faces live fire.

To stop the attacks, General Mazloum Abdi, Commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, met with the interim Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa (Al-Jolani). During their meeting, he presented the terms of the January 18th agreement, whose clauses stipulated the abortion of the Rojava revolution. However, Mazloum Abdi rejected the agreement, tearing up the paper and saying, "I will die with honor and will not sell my people and my dignity. I will go to Rojava and declare war." Al-Jolani thus attempted to impose surrender, giving the peoples of the region a choice between extermination and submission. Yet, the people welcomed the SDF's stance against this systematic policy and took up arms in response to the general mobilization call to support the forces in their villages and neighborhoods. Amidst this, the residents' stance against this extermination was rooted in the firm belief that Kobani, which defeated ISIS in 2014, would also defeat its brethren. The attacks intensified with Turkey's support, and its aircraft committed massacres against entire families in Kharab Ashk and Al-Qasimiyah. This was accompanied by a suffocating siege on Kobani city, as the jihadists cut off water, electricity, the internet, all commercial activity, and medicine from Kobani.

Kobani did not shy away from the siege despite its severity, receiving 200,000 displaced people from the Kurdish cities of Raqqa, Tabqa, Ain Issa, and Tal Saman camp, which housed displaced people from Tal Abyad/Gire Spi, in addition to displaced people from the Kobani countryside adjacent to the contact lines. Schools and kindergartens were turned into shelter centers, depriving 72,000 students of education.

In the first days of the siege, five children lost their lives due to the severe cold and the depletion of medicine in health centers, especially medications for chronic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart conditions, in addition to kidney dialysis and cancer treatments.

Despite the siege and the depletion of the most basic necessities of life, the displaced in the shelters did not demand aid or food baskets. Instead, they demanded a dignified life, a safe return to their homes, and rights guaranteed in the constitution after the suffering they endured from continuous wars and the sacrifices they made during the years of the revolution.

During the days of the siege, shipments of food were sent by the people of North Kurdistan, the Kurdistan Region, the United Nations, and the Red Cross. However, they did not cover the needs of the residents and displaced in the city. The residents emphasized that they do not need aid as much as they need the siege on the city to be lifted, commercial movement to be restored, and medicine and baby formula to be allowed in.

After the resistance shown by the residents and their insistence on defense and refusal to succumb to the jihadists' conditions and the imposition of surrender under the guise of an agreement aimed at aborting their revolution and their experience in managing and protecting the city, they were compelled to conclude another agreement on January 29th, in line with the aspirations of the Kurds in Rojava. However, the interim Damascus government continues to procrastinate in implementing the terms of the agreement, and Kobani city remains under a suffocating siege, despite the agreement's stipulation that the siege be lifted.

And because the Kurds have lost trust in the so-called interim government after it betrayed all previously concluded agreements between the two parties, the residents continue to take turns protecting their neighborhoods. They remain vigilant throughout the night, anticipating any imminent danger that might threaten their lives, until all terms of the agreement are implemented.