Thousands of people demonstrated Thursday in northeast Syria in support of a US-backed, Kurdish-led force that for weeks has been pushing back against Turkey-backed fighters, an AFP correspondent said.
The show of support for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) comes after Islamist-led rebels toppled Syria's longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad earlier this month.
A Turkish defense ministry source said Thursday that Ankara would push ahead with military preparations until Kurdish fighters "disarm".
Demonstrators in Qamishli for the first time raised the three-starred flag adopted by Syria's new authorities, symbolic of the uprising against Assad's rule that began in 2011, the correspondent said.
"Long live the SDF resistance," demonstrators chanted, also yelling, "The Syrian people are one" and "No to war in our region, no to Turkey's attack" on northeast Syria.
Others raised the flag of northeast Syria's semi-autonomous Kurdish administration, and of the SDF, which spearheaded the fight that defeated Islamic State group jihadists in Syria in 2019.
Qamishli resident Mazloum Ahmed, 39, said people "came out today to support our forces".
"We have been on this land for thousands of years," he said, adding: "We must obtain our rights... in the new Syrian constitution."
Another demonstrator, Salha Kalash, 50, said "the Syrian people must be one and fight to protect our land".
"We want a democratic Syria where everyone has their rights... it's time for us to have our place in a Syria of justice and equality".
On Wednesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said 21 pro-Turkey fighters were killed in an attack on a Kurdish-held position near the northern town of Manbij despite a US-brokered ceasefire extension in the area.
Concerns have grown over a possible Turkish assault on the Kurdish-held Syrian border town of Kobane, also known as Ain al-Arab, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of Manbij.
The SDF on Thursday accused Turkey and allied fighters of "not adhering to the (ceasefire) decision and continuing attacking" south of Kobane, encouraging residents to "take up arms against the (Turkish) occupation".
Turkey accuses the main component of the SDF, the People's Protection Units (YPG), of being affiliated with Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants at home.
Both Washington and Ankara consider the PKK "terrorist" group.
A military chief from Islamist rebel group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham said this week that Kurdish-held areas of Syria would be integrated under the country's new leadership.
The Kurdish administration has extended a hand to Syria's new authorities, but fears it could lose its limited self-rule in the northeast.
With AFP
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