This news article examines the reporting restrictions imposed by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in areas under their control, highlighting the lack of press freedom and the challenges faced by journalists seeking to cover events accurately. Despite the narratives portraying the AANES as a beacon of democracy, the article reveals the parallels between the SDF's control and that of the Assad regime, with both entities suppressing dissent and limiting access to information.
Reporting from previously Assad-held areas of Syria has led to many widely-held assumptions about the ‘secular’ regime being overturned, while those concerning the SDF /YPG require greater scrutiny. The Syrian flag is painted on a mosaic of former Syrian president Hafez al-Assad after the ousting of regime leader Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria (Reuters/Zohra Bensemra).
Control to report relatively freely, their own region remains under a regime that views journalism as a tool for consolidating power instead of one speaking truth to it. Posts on social media platforms in Arabic are, at times, the sole source of reports of arrests and abductions in parts of Syria controlled by a US ally, the entity known as the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), and its armed wing the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). For non-local journalists and media outlets, the news cycle is simply too overwhelming, possibly, while the shuttering of foreign bureaus over the past two decades and the near impossibility for freelancers to survive on what they earn for written stories means few of us can afford to research and document facts on the ground properly. However, the fact remains that access to the SDF-controlled northeastern part of the country is, for the most part, restricted to journalists the local authorities deem useful; this clearly, continues to negatively affect what the public and decision-makers know and what they think they do, akin to the situation seen in areas held by the Bashar al-Assad regime prior to If you want to see what fall of Assad means to countless Syrian journalists who fought for 13 years to tell you the story of their country, watch this first broadcast from Damascus by formerly exiled journaliston violations and thefts by the Kurdish-led and US-backed SDF. The militia forces had occupied the two major cities in the region for some days after the Assad regime and allied forces, including Iran-backed militias, handed over control as opposition-backed forces were advancing on Damascus. I have not seen any other reporting from this region by international media since the fall of the Assad regime.documenting the “killing of 65 civilians, including one child and two women, by SDF snipers in the two months since November 29 2024, in Aleppo city, after the Military Operations Command groups managed to take control of most of Aleppo city”. The US and others have for many years promoted the idea of the AANES as a bulwark of freedom and democratic ideals. The inaccurate and often intentionally misleading use of “the Kurds” as a stand-in for the SDF and for the PKK terrorist group – closely linked to the SDF and considered by many an integral part of it – has led even Western diplomats to overlook the fact that many “Kurds” do not feel represented by what many of them consider a deadly mafia.A guard stands near an image of Syria's Bashar al-Assad at the fourth division headquarters in Damascus, Syria (Reuters/Yamam Al Shaar).of up to three million dollars for “information that helps bring Kalkan to justice”. He was named a “Specially Designated Narcotics Trafficker (SDNK)” under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act) Kurdistan 24 and Rudaw, the top Iraqi Kurdish media outlets, remain banned in SDF-held areas but are by no means the only ones to be prevented from reporting from the region. In both 2019 and 2020, I reported multiple times from Arab-majority SDF-held areas despite threats. For example, in December 2020, I was in Deir al-Zor during a local protest against the SDF, after which several local men were arrested. They were released some days later when tribal notables and others intervened. While I could not find reporting on the arrests anywhere other than my own article, the protests themselves were “covered” by thewhich claimed those protesting were urging the AANES to “ignore tribal notables” since they “did not speak a word of truth”, and that “cells affiliated with the Syrian government are trying to destabilise security in the region”.'...ban on Rudaw Media Network which has been in place for nearly 3 years (...) Rudaw deemed the decision political'Since then, I have been unable to return to that area and know of no other independent journalists who have reported from oil-rich, Arab-majority tribal areas of Deir al-Zor without being accompanied by members of the SDF. I had previously been threatened for travelling there without being accompanied by SDF forces. One Iraqi Kurdish member of parliament I interviewed in 2022 compared the AANES to North Korea in terms of its restrictions on the entire population, calling it a “dictatorship”. He has since said he can no longer speak publicly on this matter due to threats from the PKK. The perception of SDF-held areas being dictatorial and similar to the Assad regime has been echoed by many Syrians I have recently interviewed on the ground, including Arabs, Druze, and Kurd
SYRIA SDF AANES KURDS JOURNALISM CENSORSHIP PRESS FREEDOM ASSAD REGIME DEMOCRACY
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