‘Affiliation to Kurdistan’ Poses Predicament to Syrian Kurdish Parties

Women hold stacks of bread as they walk along an empty street after restrictions are imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in Qamishli, Syria, March 23, 2020. (Reuters)
Women hold stacks of bread as they walk along an empty street after restrictions are imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in Qamishli, Syria, March 23, 2020. (Reuters)
TT

‘Affiliation to Kurdistan’ Poses Predicament to Syrian Kurdish Parties

Women hold stacks of bread as they walk along an empty street after restrictions are imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in Qamishli, Syria, March 23, 2020. (Reuters)
Women hold stacks of bread as they walk along an empty street after restrictions are imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in Qamishli, Syria, March 23, 2020. (Reuters)

Posters of prominent Kurdish leaders can be seen at a traditional Kurdish clothes store in Qamishli, in northeastern Syria. Posters of the late Mala Mustafa Barzani, his son former president Masoud Barzani and Abdullah Ocalan, founder of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, can be seen alongside the banners of various Kurdish organizations from Iraq and Turkey.

Ocalan’s posters are seen at the autonomous region’s institutions that were established by the Syrian Democratic Union Party in early 2014. Barzani posters are seen at the offices and headquarters of the Kurdish national council.

After nearly two months of talks in April and May, the two main Kurdish factions reached, through the sponsorship of US envoy to Syria William Roebuck, a form of political vision. More discussions will continue during future rounds of talks with the aim of reaching a united stance.

The Kurds in Syria, however, appear pessimistic about the possibility of the Kurdish parties being able to “lead them out of the dark tunnel that they have dragged them into.”

A local activist said that the affiliation of Kurdish parties in Syria to Kurdistan have played a role in the success of understandings, but they have negatively impacted the interests of Syria’s Kurds.

She explained that each foreign power has its own “vision, ideology and alliances that are so far removed from the interests and aspirations of Syria’s Kurds.”

If the Kurdish parties in Syria do not abandon their affiliation to Kurdistan, then the intra-Kurdish talks will fail, just like previous ones, she said.

She attributed the successive failures to the “weak political personality” of Syria’s Kurdish officials.

“They must open their eyes and realize the suffering of their people. They must realize that their main problem lies with Damascus, not Baghdad or Ankara,” she stressed.

The “Kurdistan affiliation” predicament is among the pain problems driving a wedge between Syria’s various Kurdish parties.

A resident of Dayrik on the border with Turkey and Iraq said that the affiliation of local Kurdish parties to Kurdistan leaderships in neighboring countries has been “unwavering” for decades.

He doubted that the various parties would be able to reach a comprehensive and final agreement due to their conflicting foreign relations and alliances.

Any agreement would be “limited” and fall short of the people’s expectations, he predicted.

A pharmacist in the town of Amouda shared a different opinion. She said that the affiliation with Kurdistan has had a positive impact on the first round of talks.

She stated that the people are more concerned with economic concerns and developments on the ground than the political talks.



Top Iranian Generals Killed in the Israeli Attack

Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri speaks during the International Conference on the Legal-International Claims of the Holy Defense in the capital Tehran on February 23, 2021. (AFP)
Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri speaks during the International Conference on the Legal-International Claims of the Holy Defense in the capital Tehran on February 23, 2021. (AFP)
TT

Top Iranian Generals Killed in the Israeli Attack

Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri speaks during the International Conference on the Legal-International Claims of the Holy Defense in the capital Tehran on February 23, 2021. (AFP)
Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri speaks during the International Conference on the Legal-International Claims of the Holy Defense in the capital Tehran on February 23, 2021. (AFP)

Israel targeted leading members of Iran's armed forces on Friday during its unprecedented onslaught hitting military and nuclear targets across the country.

Here is what we know about the two top figures killed:

General Mohammad Bagheri was the highest-ranking officer in the Iranian armed forces and was responsible for overseeing the army, the Revolutionary Guards and Corps and the country's ballistic missile program.

In office since 2016, Bagheri worked directly under the authority of supreme leader Ali Khamenei -- Iran's ultimate decision maker and the commander-in-chief of its armed forces.

As second in command, Bagheri held wide-ranging authority over much of Iran's military formations and appeared regularly on television in uniform, including notably at the inauguration of underground military bases.

He also played a key role in developing Iran's ballistic missile program.

The arsenal, originally developed to compensate for Iran's weak air force during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, significantly increased its range and precision over the years.

Israel has long viewed these capabilities as an existential threat from its sworn enemy and has twice been targeted by massive barrages fired by Iran at its territory.

"The Zionist enemy should know that it is nearing the end of its miserable life," Bagheri once declared, while referring to Israel as "a cancerous tumor".

In 2022, Bagheri stated that Iran was "more than self-sufficient" in arms and equipment, boasting that the country would become one of the world's top arms exporters if sanctions were lifted.

The general was placed under US sanctions during President Donald Trump's first term and later sanctioned by the European Union following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.

At that time, Bagheri mocked the EU, suggesting it should use Iran's frozen assets to "buy coal" to heat itself in winter amid Russia's war in Ukraine aided by Iranian weapons.

Born in June 1960, Bagheri succeeded Hassan Firouzabadi, who had served as chief of staff of the armed forces for 26 years -- from 1989 to 2016 -- and had once accused Westerners of using lizards to spy on Iran.

Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) head Hossein Salami delivers a speech during a ceremony marking the first death anniversary of late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, in Tehran, Iran, 15 May 2025. (EPA)

Hossein Salami

Iran's Revolutionary Guards chief Hossein Salami was a veteran officer close to supreme leader Khamenei and known for his tirades against Israel and its US ally.

"If you make the slightest mistake, we will open the gates of hell for you," the white-bearded general warned Tehran's arch foes during a tour of an underground missile base in January.

Born in 1960 in central Iran, Salami joined the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in 1980 at the start of the war launched by then Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

He spent most of his career in the Guards, which was set up after the 1979 overthrow of the Western-backed shah to defend the goals of the revolution.

The force is now 125,000-strong grouping, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, although Iran has never released any official figure.

Salami rose through the ranks to become head of the Guards' air force division and was placed on Washington's sanctions blacklist.

He served as the corps' deputy commander for nine years before being promoted to the top job in 2019 as part of a major reshuffle.

Iran's revolutionary leader Khomeini had made support for the Palestinian cause a centerpiece of Tehran's foreign policy and Salami repeatedly alluded to calls for Israel to be wiped from the map.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should "learn to swim in the Mediterranean Sea" in readiness to flee, he said in a 2018 speech.

The IRGC played a central role in Iran's forward foreign policy in the Arab world, which saw Tehran-backed militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah lead Gaza and Lebanon into war with Israel.

The twin conflicts were accompanied by the first-ever direct exchanges of fire between Iran and Israel last year and were to lead to the much bigger wave of Israeli strikes on Iran on Friday, one of which killed Salami.