unsaveSave
expand-left
fullscreen Opposition parties hang the independence flag in Damascus on Monday, the day after dictator Bashar al-Assad was toppled. Now the Kurdish self-government in the northeast will also use the flag. Photo: Omar Sanadiki/AP/TT
The Kurdish self-government in northeastern Syria begins to raise the Syrian independence flag – the one that Islamist-led rebels have raised in the capital, Damascus.
The government of Rojava, as the Kurdish self-government is called, announces that it has been decided to raise this flag on all buildings belonging to its authorities. It is described in a statement as a “symbol of this new stage, as it expresses the Syrian people’s aspiration for freedom, dignity and national unity”, reports AFP.
Syria’s flag has for decades been red-white-black with two green stars on the white field. Over time, it has come to be associated with the rule of the Assad family, and opposition forces have then adopted an earlier flag that has the same pan-Arab color combination, but in green-white-black with three red stars.
The green-white-black flag was originally produced for the first Syrian republic when it won independence from France in 1930. Since the outbreak of the Great Civil War in 2011, it has been used as a symbol of resistance by a wide variety of opposition groups.
The Kurdish self-government has mainly used a Kurdish flag with horizontal stripes in yellow, red and green.
The Islamist movement Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which is leading the seizure of power in Damascus, has proclaimed that all ethnic groups and religious communities should be welcome in Syria, but so far many have doubts about this. The Kurdish-led SDF forces in Rojava have battled various Turkish-backed rebel forces in recent days, forcing several withdrawals.