SOHR: Kurdish rebels deploy "human shields" to stop advancing SNF in Syria VIDEO/PHOTO

A mass of people are staging a sit-in protest near the Tishrin Dam in northern Syria to support the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a rebel group which has been pushed out of their previously controlled regions by the dominating political fraction, the Syrian National Army (SNA).  

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a Syrian politically unaffiliated monitoring group in-exile, the ongoing hostilities in the northern and eastern parts of Aleppo have prompted local residents to join activities supporting the PKK/YPG amid growing concerns about a potential escalation in more areas.

The large group of residents from the city of Al-Hasakah have set off towards the Tishrin Dam, to where the SDF, closely affiliated to the Kurdish PKK terror organization and it’s Syrian YPG wing, was pushed to after an unsuccessful attack on the  Turkish-backed SNA amid the power vacuum that arose after the fall of former leader, Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. 

Tişrin barajının bir kısmını elinde tutan YPG/PKK'a , burayı kaybedeceğini anlayınca. 
İç güvenlikten bildiğimiz ve gördüğümüz " canlı kalkan" taktiğini tişrin de yapmak istiyorlar.
sivil halkı buraya yerleştrip harekatı durdurmak amaçları. pic.twitter.com/Gfq1rpHHyD

— Derin Kuvvetler (@Derinkuvvet) January 8, 2025

As earlier reported by Caliber.Az, the Turkish army and the SNA continue military operations in the eastern part of Manbij, involving intense air and ground assaults aimed at capturing two strategic locations: the Tishrin Dam and the Karra-Karkuzak Bridge, to pave the way for advancing toward the eastern bank of the Euphrates River where both points are located on.

SOHR reports, that the Kurdish militants are fearing loss of power over the Tishrin Dam, which they only partially control after the SNA have expelled them from most areas back in December. The sit-in protest is characterized by SOHR as a "human shield" tactic employed by the SDF, aiming to position civilians in the area to halt the advances of the SNA.

By Nazrin Sadigova