Special report by PEOPLE’S WORLD
IN MARCH 2017, I made my way through the streets of the northern Syrian city of Kobani, just over two years since it had been liberated from the Islamic State by fighters of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and Women’s Protection Units (YPJ).
Although some of the city had slowly seen reconstruction taking place, other areas made it appear that the war was still being fought.
Burnt-out cars used as vehicles for suicide bombings. The stench of yesterday’s corpses buried under rubble not yet removed. Graffiti marking the sight of legendary battles and martyrs lost in combat, adorning walls riddled with bullet holes.
VIJAY PRASHAD details how US support for Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa allowed him to break the resistance of the autonomous Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)
VIJAY PRASHAD looks at the web of militias and drug-trafficking gangs that emerged in the Sweida region through the Syrian civil war, and how they relate to recent clashes and Israel’s intervention


