The Side on Northeastern Syria That US Media Keep Dark

US President Donald Trump took several decisions on the Syria conflict recently, which triggered political and media pressure on him. Most criticism either attempted to score political and media points against Trump or stemmed from motives that have nothing to do with Syria. The Syria crisis embodied a good opportunity for Trump opponents to unleash unprecedented criticism against him.

Trump's recent decisions on Syria are rational and deliver his previous election campaign promises that put “America First.” Yet, he faced fierce criticism. He retweeted the tweet of radio host Buck Sexton in retaliation against Media criticism: “Media has been more outraged in the last 72 hours over our Syria policy than they were at any point during 7 years of slaughter.”

It’s worth mentioning that the United States caused a change in the population distribution in the region and complicated the situation by depending on its fight against ISIS on racial militias like the PKK. Trump recently stated in a press conference in the White House that the PKK is “much worse than ISIS and probably constitutes a bigger terrorist threat.” The Kurdish militias have also caused the displacement of the Arab majority and some Kurds and Turkmens from areas between Hasakah and Raqqa, and the countryside of Ain al-Arab in Al-Shuyukh too. It even transformed the names of Arab cities and towns and imposed on Syrian Arab citizens the sponsorship system in order to allow them into areas under their control. Things did not stop here; the militias imposed Kurdish curricula in cities, towns and villages where not a single Kurd resides,  let alone raising the pictures of the Turkish PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in all the squares and schools of Arab cities!

Currently, most media outlets depict the Kurdish militias as "victims," while they committed war crimes. The main reason behind such an approach is detracting from Trump's decisions. It also seems some media appear to have confused geography with them and believe that the eastern Euphrates is the US border with Mexico and express their fear of a demographic change, relying on misleading inaccurate information in their analysis. Media fail to recognize that the area between Ras Al Ain and Tal Abyad is almost entirely Arab and try to prove that a demographic change is taking place. Media even overlook the fact that the US backed the YPG, which caused a demographic change on the ground in the mentioned.

US President Donald Trump took several decisions on the Syria conflict recently, which triggered political and media pressure on him. Most criticism either attempted to score political and media points against Trump or stemmed from motives that have nothing to do with Syria. The Syria crisis embodied a good opportunity for Trump opponents to unleash unprecedented criticism against him.

Trump's recent decisions on Syria are rational and deliver his previous election campaign promises that put “America First.” Yet, he faced fierce criticism. He retweeted the tweet of radio host Buck Sexton in retaliation against Media criticism: “Media has been more outraged in the last 72 hours over our Syria policy than they were at any point during 7 years of slaughter.”

The ordinary American citizen may not know that official US departments and agencies supported and supplied arms to the Kurdish militias PYD and YPG (Syrian offshoot of PKK enlisted as terrorist by NATO), which carried out ethnic cleansing against Arabs in Syria and have sought to establish an autonomous entity. Amnesty International revealed in a report in 2015 that the PYD committed war crimes in Syria before and after the so-called “fight against ISIS.” Reports detailed that the Kurdish militias committed war crimes including razing, burning villages and displacing citizens that even the worst dictators did not dare to execute.

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We here pose a legitimate question: Do Trump and the American taxpayers know about the war crimes and atrocities committed by the YPG and the PYD, -which exploited the US military support under the pretext of fighting ISIS- and opted to form a separatist entity that does not have any demographic or geographical components within the territories of the Syrian Republic? In fact, the Kurdish population in Syria does not exceed six percent. The UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura revealed that Kurds represent only five percent of the Syrian population. Besides, Kurds live in geographical areas that are not interconnected and do not constitute a majority in their places of residence. It is the so-called “war against ISIS” that granted them dominance over the Arab areas of Manbij, Deir-Ez-Zor, and Al-Hasakah.

Almost everyone is looking at the developments east of Euphrates only in relation to the Turkish role, and overlooking the threat against millions of Arabs in that area. Most studies show that Arabs constitute the majority of population east of the Euphrates River with more than 92 % in Raqqa, more than 75% in Al-Hasakah, 100% in Deir Ez-Zor, more than 94% in Manbij and 100% in Tall Rifaat. The rest of regions constitute an ethnical combination of Kurds, Turkmens, Chechens, Assyrians, and Armenians.

The world turns its back, while millions of Arabs east of the Euphrates, i.e., half of Syria’s population interconnected and face their doomed fate. Amnesty International reported that the YPG/PYD-PKK committed war crimes against Arabs in northern and eastern Syria. Trump also stated a few days ago that those militias released some ISIS prisoners just to offend the US.

In a report issued in late 2015, Amnesty International stated that its fact-finding mission in northern Syria had uncovered a wave of forced displacements and house demolitions, which amounted to war crimes carried out by PYD, the Syrian Kurdish party controlling the region. Lama Fakih Senior Crisis Advisor at Amnesty International said: “By deliberately demolishing civilian homes, in some cases razing and burning entire villages, displacing inhabitants with no justifiable military grounds, the Autonomous Administration is abusing its authority and brazenly flouting international humanitarian law in attacks that amount to war crimes.”

It’s worth mentioning that the United States caused a change in the population distribution in the region and complicated the situation by depending on its fight against ISIS on racial militias like the PKK. Trump recently stated in a press conference in the White House that the PKK is “much worse than ISIS and probably constitutes a bigger terrorist threat.” The Kurdish militias have also caused the displacement of the Arab majority and some Kurds and Turkmens from areas between Hasakah and Raqqa, and the countryside of Ain al-Arab in Al-Shuyukh too. It even transformed the names of Arab cities and towns and imposed on Syrian Arab citizens the sponsorship system in order to allow them into areas under their control. Things did not stop here; the militias imposed Kurdish curricula in cities, towns, and villages where not a single Kurd resides, let alone raising the pictures of the Turkish PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in all the squares and schools of Arab cities!

Currently, most media outlets depict the Kurdish militias as "victims," while they committed war crimes. The main reason behind such an approach is detracting from Trump's decisions. It also seems some media appear to have confused geography with them and believe that the eastern Euphrates is the US border with Mexico and express their fear of a demographic change, relying on misleading inaccurate information in their analysis. Media fail to recognize that the area between Ras Al Ain and Tal Abyad is almost entirely Arab and try to prove that a demographic change is taking place. Media even overlook the fact that the US backed the YPG, which caused a demographic change on the ground in the mentioned area.