Statelet of Survivors: The Making of a Semi-Autonomous Region in Northeast Syria

"Descending from survivors of Ottoman-era atrocities, the Kurdish and Christian minorities in northern Syria were once again faced with annihilation when the Islamic State surged into their homelands. Joining forces, they formed an unlikely alliance even before the United States had entered the fray, leading a Global Coalition. Within a few years, the Kurdish-led outlawed militia known as the YPG/YPJ evolved into a multi-ethnic, multi-religious force in which the diverse peoples of the region were represented: Arabs from every tribe, Assyrian and Syriac Christians, Armenians, Yezidis, Circassians, Syrian Turkmen, and Kurds joined the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), fighting side-by-side to defend their land and defeat the Caliphate. One grueling battle at a time, the SDF expanded far beyond the Kurdish heartland known as Rojava into Arab-majority population centers. By the time the Islamic State was vanquished in March 2019, over 11,000 young SDF fighters laid buried in cemeteries. But their triumph over ISIS is only half the story. In defiance of the Assad regime, the Islamic State, and Turkey, the peoples of Northeast Syria created a de-facto state. While the SDF's battle against ISIS was supported by the Global Coalition against Daesh, including some 85 member countries and partners, the statelet they created is recognized by no one. That is the paradox this book seeks to explain. In 2012 the forces of Bashar al-Assad withdrew from the north of Syria to turn their guns on rebels in the south. Into the vacuum stepped the Syrian offshoot of the PKK. As the "Arab Spring" protests in Damascus and elsewhere descended into a brutal civil war, the Kurds in the north set up a rudimentary Self-Administration in three cantons: Afrin, Kobani, and Jazira. They were surrounded by enemies. The cantons that declared self-rule were not even connected to each other. Their chances of survival were slim. Then the Islamic State took over large chunks of Syria. While ISIS carried out