Freedom for Syria?

Syrians are celebrating the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s brutal regime, widely despised for its authoritarian rule, corruption, and sectarian favoritism. Some Syrians displaced during nearly 14 years of civil war are even starting to return home. The country’s new leaders promise freedom and peace, but minority groups fear they may have exchanged one hostile tyrant for another.

“Christians and Kurds are pretty scared,” said Ahmed, a Christian hiding in Manbij, a city in Syria’s north. “People are in their homes and afraid to leave.”

Syria’s civil war spawned a complex web of factions and splinter groups backed by state actors—including Iran, Russia, China, Turkey, the United States, and Israel—each pursuing its own agenda. This has led to shifting alliances where adversaries sometimes align while allies occasionally clash. Amid this turmoil, minority groups like the Kurds and Christians are often caught in the crossfire.

“The Christians are relatively safe in the Damascus area under [the new government], but in Manbij no one is safe—not Christians, not Kurds,” Ahmed told me.

Syria’s civil war began in 2011 with Assad’s brutal crackdown on peaceful Arab Spring protests. The conflict has been marked by chemical attacks, mass arrests, and widespread human rights abuses. Assad’s economic mismanagement and reliance on foreign allies like Russia and Iran deepened public resentment, displacing millions and plunging the country into poverty and violence.

The conflict remained at a stalemate until Nov. 27, when Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a rebel group allied with Turkish-backed Syrian National Army militias, launched a major, ­successful offensive against government forces in Idlib. They soon captured Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city. Over two weeks, rebel forces swept across the country, seizing territory, including Damascus, and toppling the Assad regime, despite its backing from Russian airstrikes and support from Iran, China, and Russia. Assad has since fled to Moscow.

HTS originated as Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, before rebranding in 2016 as Jabhat Fateh al-Sham and claiming to sever ties with al-Qaeda. It later evolved into HTS, a coalition of Islamist factions positioning itself as a localized Syrian force. Designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department in 2018, HTS has since attempted to distance itself from its extremist roots and promote a more secular and inclusive governance model.

While HTS pursued its offensive against Assad’s forces, the Syrian National Army (SNA) launched “Dawn of Freedom,” targeting Kurdish-majority areas in northeastern Syria. That operation escalated tensions between Turkey, which backs the SNA, and the United States, which backs the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The SDF, instrumental in combating ISIS alongside U.S. forces from 2013 to 2017, is led primarily by the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). Turkey designates the YPG as a terrorist organization due to its ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, a group involved in a decades-long insurgency against Turkey. This alignment effectively pits Turkey, a NATO ally, against the U.S.-backed Kurds.

Syrian Kurds flee from Aleppo with their belongings on Dec. 2 after HTS forces seized control of the city. Rami Al Sayed / AFP via Getty Images

Assad’s downfall marks a major victory for Turkey, which wields influence over both HTS and the SNA. But it poses a serious threat to Syria’s Kurdish minority. Turkey has a long history of attacking the Kurdish autonomous region and supporting proxies that target Kurds in other areas.

Khalil, a woman in Raqqa aiding internally displaced people, reported that in recent months Turkish aircraft have increased bombing raids in Kurdish regions under the pretext of targeting the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. “Sadly, the strikes hit civilian infrastructure, including oil fields, gas stations, roads, bridges, bakeries, and grain silos, leaving millions without government electricity and reliant on private generators,” she said.

On Dec. 9, Turkish-backed Syrian opposition forces entered the northwestern city of Manbij after capturing most of the surrounding area from U.S.-allied Kurdish forces, further escalating regional tensions.

Khalil shared one harrowing account of Kurdish suffering. A family from the Shahba region’s village of Ahdath, fleeing to Kurdish-controlled areas in northeastern Syria, came under heavy fire from Turkey-backed Syrian militias during their three-day journey. Their 25-year-old son, Yashar Ibrahim—a father of two—died in the attack. The family eventually reached the Tabqa area, joining millions of Syrians displaced since the civil war began.

Ahmed, one of the few remaining Christians in Manbij, has gone into hiding with his wife and children as the Turkish-backed SNA forces comb the area. “There are still some SDF soldiers in ­tunnels and snipers on tall buildings,” he reported. Civil society in Manbij has collapsed: “All services and infrastructure are halted. Markets are closed, leading to bread and food shortages.” Additionally, there is no electricity, water, or heating, leaving residents vulnerable to the winter months’ freezing temperatures.

The situation in Syria varies widely depending on which forces control a given area. In Khalil’s region, hospitals and transportation infrastructure remained open, except for the Qamishli airport, where domestic flights to and from Damascus were suspended. Khalil noted that, for now, she hasn’t heard of any food shortages, but she warned hunger could be on the horizon: “We may see such a scenario soon, not only here but across the country, due to the chaos in the west and the capital, which is likely to disrupt supply chains.”

Khalil highlighted the plight of displaced Kurds, who are among those most in need of heating, food, and other essentials. Many have fled their villages in the west to seek relative safety in the northeastern regions, but tens of thousands remain stuck in and around Aleppo. They urgently require food, blankets, baby formula, diapers, medicine, water, tents, heaters, and other basic supplies. Khalil reported alarming but unverified claims that Turkish-backed militias had kidnapped a convoy of 120 vehicles carrying about 15,000 displaced Kurds heading to southeastern Syria.

In Raqqa, minority groups including Christians and Kurds have not yet experienced persecution, though they live in fear of what the future might bring. But near Aleppo the situation is far worse for the Kurdish minority. Khalil detailed threats, torture, and killings targeting displaced families from the area, underscoring the well-documented pattern of abuse against Kurds in the region.

As Kurds flee and Christians hide in fear of being discovered and targeted, Ahmed tries to remain hopeful: “We trust in God and pray for peace and for resolving the disputes among all Syrians.”