"Chil Agha is a Kurdish town. Everyone was once comfortable and well-off. No one worked and acted like agha [Kurdish for tribal leader]. Thanks be to God, the situation in Chil Agha is very good. We have a force. Our youth are all vigil. Our morale is high, and we have no fear at all," Nazir Sheikh Mousa, 45, told Rudaw on Wednesday.
Since mid-January, the Syrian Arab Army and affiliated armed groups have advanced into areas previously held by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Aleppo, Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, and near the Kurdish-majority province of Hasaka in eastern Rojava.
The Kurdish-led SDF serve as the de facto military force in Rojava and are a key ally of the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat the Islamic State (ISIS). The areas now seized by Damascus and its affiliated forces were among those the SDF liberated from ISIS following the group’s declaration of its so-called caliphate in Syria and Iraq in 2014.
Despite the heavy waves of Arabization that did not spare Chil Agha, Kurds still make up the majority of the population.
"As long as blood remains in our bodies, we will defend the homeland. We will remain here. Around 20 years ago, there were 90 Kurdish households here. Later, when the [Kurdish] fighters came, they gave them [Kurds] homes and helped them live comfortably. But when this war broke out, they [residents] all left, and we [Kurds] remained alone. We want brotherhood among peoples, but we want Kurds and Kurdistan," said Khalaf Ramadan, a resident of the Kurdish town.
Despite the sound of gunfire and the smoke from tank and artillery bombardments, the defining image of these days in Rojava is one of resistance.
