Syria’s Hasakah tribal leaders condemn attacks on Aleppo neighborhoods
HASAKAH, Syria (North Press) – Tribal elders and sheikhs from clans and tribes in Hasakah Governorate, northeastern Syria, condemned on Saturday what they described as international silence over the attacks targeting the Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyah in Aleppo.
The leaders said the ongoing assaults amount to “a war of extermination and a deliberate targeting of the population’s presence in both neighborhoods.”
Sheikh Fahd Sheikani, a representative of the Sadat al-Ashraf al-Sheikhan tribe in the Jazira region (Hasakah Governorate), told North Press that Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh have been subjected since the fifth of this month to “a war of extermination and ethnic cleansing.”
He said the attacks are an attempt to cover up the failure of the Damascus transitional government’s forces to deliver on promises of stability and development.
According to Sheikani, the assaults also reflect the government’s subjection to Turkish pressure, accusing Ankara of seeking to prevent stability and fuel conflicts to serve its own interests and strategies, including control and exploitation of resources.
He added that the military operations have been accompanied by an escalation in hate speech and efforts to divide society along sectarian and ethnic lines.
“This rhetoric is alien to our society. We have always been one voice and one hand in confronting all challenges,” Sheikani said.