Tensions have escalated in Al-Hasakah Governorate, northeastern Syria, with mutual clashes taking place between Kurdish student demonstrations and counter-marches refusing to disrupt teaching, amid accusations of incitement and destabilization. These developments came in conjunction with the return of hundreds of families displaced from the city of Ras al-Ayn (Serê Kaniyê) residing in the Hasakah camps to their original areas.
On Wednesday, Kurdish student and youth demonstrations took place in the cities of Al-Hasakah, Qamishli, Al-Darbasiyah, and Derik. Protesters entered the Education Directorate building and disrupted its work, according to local media sources, before they tried to head towards the governorate building.
The Kurdish news agency, Hawar, reported that the Internal Security Forces prevented the protesters from reaching the governorate building in Hasakah, noting that “the student demonstrators were attacked by vandals and rioters” coming from the Gweran and Al-Nashwa neighborhoods, as they headed towards the Directorate of Education and the governorate building.
On the other hand, local sources reported that “tension intensified after the demonstrators entered the directorate building, where a group of tribesmen tried to confront them and break up the demonstration. Which led to an exchange of stones and fistfights between the two parties.” The clashes resulted in the injury of a number of media professionals who were at the scene, while the security forces attempted; Which were deployed at demonstration sites, preventing clashes and dispersing gatherings.
In a related context, the “Al-Hasakah Observatory” indicated that a child from the Arab tribes in the Gweran neighborhood was injured as a result of gunfire by members of the “Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)” while he was near the governorate building, where he was taken to the hospital to receive treatment, amid mounting accusations against the “Kurdish Revolutionary Youth” and elements affiliated with the “SDF” of firing bullets.
The protesting Kurdish students are demanding that the Kurdish language be adopted as a primary language in the curricula, and that the recent government decision that approved its introduction as an optional second language be retracted in 3 weekly classes. The participants chanted slogans such as: “We want our language” and “The Kurdish language is our constitutional right” while raising Kurdish flags, which the tribesmen considered “provocative behavior that exacerbates the division.” On August 27, the Ministry of Education issued a decision amending the executive instructions for implementing “Decree No. 13 of 2026,” allowing the teaching of the Kurdish language as a national language in areas where Kurdish citizens constitute a significant percentage of the population.
In the wake of these tensions, an armed group attacked an Internal Security Forces checkpoint 5 kilometers from the center of Al-Hasakah city, specifically at the Umm Qasir village junction on the southern Tal Tamr road in the western countryside, without information being received about losses.
In parallel with security developments, the government and concerned authorities continue to implement the voluntary and safe return program for displaced persons. On Wednesday, the 7th convoy set off from the displacement camps in the Hasakah countryside, heading to the countryside of Ras al-Ayn (Serê Kaniyê), Zarkan (Abu Rasin) and Tal Tamr, after about 7 years of displacement. The current convoy, which is being carried out in two batches on Wednesday and Thursday, includes about 847 families distributed among 75 villages.
The Assistant Commander of Internal Security in Al-Hasakah Governorate, Mahmoud Khalil, announced in a press statement that the ninth batch of return convoys will start next week, and that it includes about a thousand families, stressing the continuation of efforts to return all the displaced to their homes and lands before the onset of winter.
For his part, a member of the People’s Assembly, Yasser Mansour, expressed his hope to accelerate the pace of the convoys to ensure a dignified and safe return for all, explaining that the presence of members of the People’s Assembly to accompany the conduct of the convoys “comes within the framework of monitoring the progress of work and direct knowledge of the measures taken to facilitate the return.” Despite the acceleration of the voluntary return process, hundreds of displaced families are still waiting for the appropriate conditions to be created, especially the removal of mines, which pose the most serious threat to the lives of civilians. And children specifically. On Wednesday, a child was killed and 9 others were injured. Most of them are children, and a teacher, as a result of a mine explosion inside the “Al-Muhaddathah” school in the town of Zarkan (Abu Rasin) in the Hasakah countryside.
In another context, the political forces in the Gaza Strip and their affiliated platforms followed the results of the Israeli elections, and were also interested in the American elections. Its reactions varied between welcoming the loss of the Republican Party and Donald Trump’s administration of the majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate, considering it a victory for the Palestinian cause, and reservations about this reading, based on the fact that the election results “will not bring about a fundamental change” in the crises that the sector is suffering from.
Munther Al-Hayek, spokesman for the Fatah movement in Gaza, said in statements to Asharq Al-Awsat that the war on Gaza was present in the propaganda campaigns for the midterm elections, considering that “the negative positions of the current American administration regarding the situation in the Palestinian territories affected the votes of voters, which was reflected in the clear loss of the Republicans.” In contrast to the previous welcome, Hamas leaders and its spokesman Hazem Qassem preferred not to comment officially.
An official Hamas source, who is in Turkey, told Asharq Al-Awsat, after requesting to remain anonymous, that “the election results will not change anything fundamental for the Palestinians, especially for the residents of Gaza, but they may give some hope for stopping Israel’s sweeping support for its attacks in the Strip.” The source added: “We must remember that the first to support the ongoing war was the Democratic Party, represented by the administration of former President Joe Biden, which was unable to impose any solutions on Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, as Trump later did despite his endless support for Israel.”
For his part, the writer and political analyst residing in Gaza, Mustafa Ibrahim, told Asharq Al-Awsat that most Palestinians without political forces, especially in Gaza, believe that “the two parties (Republican and Democratic) are supportive of Israel’s policies, with minor differences and nuances on some issues.”
More than two years after the Kurdistan Region elections that were held in October 2024, the region’s parliament was able, on Wednesday, to hold its first session, in the absence of the “Patriotic Union” of Kurdistan, led by Bafel Talabani, and with the active participation of the Kurdistan “Democratic” Party, led by Masoud Barzani. Although the holding of the session, which was anticipated by political and regional circles, paves the way for the formation of a new government in the region, at the same time it reflects the consolidation of an unprecedented division between the two main parties in Kurdistan.
On Wednesday, the regional parliament was able to achieve the required quorum, i.e. half plus one (51 deputies) to elect the Speaker of Parliament, his deputy, and his secretary. The elections resulted in the victory of MP Vala Farid, from the Kurdistan Democratic Party, for the position of Speaker of Parliament, and Rami Nouri, representing the “quota”, for the position of Vice President, while Mona Kahwaji, representing the Turkmen “quota”, won the position of Secretary of Parliament.
For his part, a member of the political bureau of the National Union, Youssef Goran, said, “The (Democratic) Party, through pressure and illegal methods, succeeded in gathering the required number of parliamentarians to elect the Presidency of Parliament, but the question that must be thought about is: Is the success of the parliamentary procedures sufficient if its price is political division and endangering the stability of the region?”
In turn, Kifah Mahmoud, media advisor to the head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Masoud Barzani, described thinking about division, under any pretext, as “political suicide.” Mahmoud told Asharq Al-Awsat that the objection of some voices within the National Union to the outcomes of the first parliamentary session is nothing more than “emotional reactions,” rather than political or legal positions, indicating that Parliament has succeeded in addressing an exceptional and unhealthy situation that can no longer continue.
