Attack on ENKS Office in Kobane Triggers Tension Between Kurdish Parties

Logo of Kurdish National Council (ENKS)
Logo of Kurdish National Council (ENKS)
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Attack on ENKS Office in Kobane Triggers Tension Between Kurdish Parties

Logo of Kurdish National Council (ENKS)
Logo of Kurdish National Council (ENKS)

The headquarters of the opposition Kurdish National Council (ENKS) in Kobane was attacked in the early hours of Tuesday, causing severe damage to the building and creating a state of terror in the neighborhood.

The council issued a statement accusing the Revolutionary Youth movement, affiliated with the Movement for a Democratic Society, of attacking the offices of the council in Ain al-Arab.

Head of the local council of ENKS Barkal Ahmed asserted that unknown gunmen threw two bombs at the building, then fired a round of bullets from machine guns. He noted that the attack damaged the building and shattered its windows.

The statement denounced “intimidating” actions, saying that this is not the first attack on its offices in Kurdish cities and towns.

The umbrella group of opposition parties, which includes 16 political parties as well as academic and social figures, accused the Syrian Democratic Union Party (PYD) of being responsible for the attacks.

Remarkably, the Union Party is the ruling party in the regions east of the Euphrates and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (Rojava).

However, the Council asserted that the unity of the Kurdish position is a strategic issue, and these “shameful acts of terror will not deter us.”

“Those who commit those actions amid intra-Kurdish talks, between ENKS and Kurdish National Unity Parties (PYNK), are evil people who want to harm the unity of Kurds in Syrian Kurdistan."

The general coordinator of the Kurdish Reform Movement, Faisal Yusuf, indicated that the talks were not suspended because of unresolved issues, but because the US sponsor is engaged in other matters.

He noted that the negotiations aim to resolve differences that persisted after the Dohuk Agreement (2014).

Yusuf called for promoting confidence-building measures between the Kurdish parties in Syria, stressing that the unity of the Kurdish position in Syria was, and still is, a strategic choice.

“We are negotiating for a political unity guaranteeing a true partnership that expresses the interest of the Kurdish people in Syria.”

The outstanding contentious issues between the two major components of the Kurdish movement revolve around several issues, such as the demand to reveal the fate of 10 kidnapped politicians and eight members of the Kurdish Military Council.

The Kurdish interference constitutes a major obstacle to the talks, as the council leaders accuse the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) of imposing its control over the Syrian Union Party, Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and the Kurdish Units.

The council also accuses the Party of working against any political partnership that may cancel its future role in the Kurdish-Syrian regions.

The council is ready to return to the US-sponsored negotiations with the unity parties and seeks a unified Kurdish position in the implementation of its political program.

Last October, unity talks stalled between Kurdish ruling and opposition parties after they moved to discuss more complex issues such as "protection, defense, and military forces" and the "Autonomous Administration partnership."



Israel Halts Aid, Official Says, as Gazan Clans Deny Hamas is Stealing It

Palestinians struggle to receive cooked food distributed at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians struggle to receive cooked food distributed at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP)
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Israel Halts Aid, Official Says, as Gazan Clans Deny Hamas is Stealing It

Palestinians struggle to receive cooked food distributed at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians struggle to receive cooked food distributed at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP)

Israel has halted aid supplies to Gaza for two days to prevent them being seized by Hamas, an official said on Thursday after images circulated of masked men on aid trucks whom clan leaders said were protecting aid, not diverting it to the militants.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a joint statement with Defense Minister Israel Katz, said late on Wednesday that he had ordered the military to present a plan within two days to prevent Hamas from taking control of aid.

The decision was made after Netanyahu and Katz cited new information indicating that Hamas was seizing aid intended for civilians in northern Gaza. The statement did not disclose the information but a video circulating on Wednesday showed dozens of masked men, some armed with rifles but most carrying sticks, riding on aid trucks

An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that aid deliveries had been temporarily suspended for two days to allow the military time to develop a new plan.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli prime minister's office, the defense ministry or the Israeli military.

The Higher Commission for Tribal Affairs, which represents influential clans in the territory, said that trucks had been protected as part of an aid security process managed "solely through tribal efforts". The commission said that no Palestinian faction, a reference to Hamas, had taken part in the process.

Hamas, the militant group that has ruled Gaza for more than two decades but now controls only parts of the territory after nearly two years of war with Israel, denied any involvement.

Throughout the war, numerous clans, civil society groups and factions - including Hamas' secular political rival Fatah - have stepped in to help provide security for the aid convoys.

Clans made up of extended families connected through blood and marriage have long been a fundamental part of Gazan society.

ACUTE SHORTAGE

Amjad al-Shawa, director of an umbrella body for Palestinian non-governmental organisations, said the aid protected by clans on Wednesday was being distributed to vulnerable families.

There is an acute shortage of food and other basic supplies after the nearly two-year military campaign by Israel that has displaced most of Gaza's two million inhabitants.

Aid trucks and warehouses storing supplies have often been looted, frequently by desperate and starving Palestinians. Israel accuses Hamas of stealing aid for its own fighters or to sell to finance its operations, an accusation Hamas denies.

"The clans came ... to form a stance to prevent the aggressors and the thieves from stealing the food that belongs to our people," Abu Salman Al Moghani, a representative of Gazan clans, said, referring to Wednesday's operation.

The Wednesday video was shared on X by former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who claimed that Hamas had taken control of aid allowed into Gaza by the Israeli government. Bennett is widely seen as the most viable challenger to Netanyahu at the next election.

Netanyahu has also faced pressure from within his right-wing coalition, with some hardline members threatening to quit over ceasefire negotiations and the delivery of humanitarian aid.

The war began when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

In response, Israel launched a military campaign that has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, the majority of them civilians, according to local health authorities in Gaza.

At least 103 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire over the past 24 hours, local health authorities said, including some shot near an aid distribution point, the latest in a series of such incidents. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

Twenty hostages remain in captivity in Gaza, while Hamas is also holding the bodies of 30 who have died.