The semi-autonomous Kurdish administration that holds swathes of Syria's northeast said Thursday it will adopt the three-starred independence flag used by the opposition, after rebels toppled longtime president Bashar al-Assad.
The Kurdish authority said in a statement it has "decided to raise the Syrian (independence) flag on all councils, institutions, administrations and facilities affiliated with the Autonomous Administration".
It described the flag as a "symbol of this new stage, as it expresses the aspirations of the Syrian people towards freedom, dignity and national unity".
Areas under its control "represent an integral part of Syria's geography" it said, welcoming "the end of the era of oppression and tyranny imposed by the Syrian regime on people for more than half a century".
Syria's Kurds had flown their red, white, green and yellow flag in areas they control for the past decade, after they established limited self-rule as Syrian government troops vacated the north and northeast.
Before the war, Syria's Kurds faced discrimination and were barred, for example, from Kurdish language schooling.
Assad's government had rejected the Kurdish administration accusing it of "separatism", though Kurdish-led forces had avoided open hostilities with the former government.
On Sunday, Mazloum Abdi who heads the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) welcomed Assad's fall as "an opportunity to build a new Syria based on democracy and justice that guarantees the rights of all Syrians".
After Islamist-rebels launched a lightning offensive seizing power last week, Turkish-backed fighters seized Manbij and Tal Rifaat, two Kurdish-held areas in the country's north.
With AFP
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