Syria’s Kurdish autonomy is fading as Arab unrest challenges Damascus’s control

Sunni Arab Syrians held large-scale demonstrations in Hasakah after Friday prayers, demanding the dissolution of Kurdish-led autonomous structures and full control by the Damascus government. A Kurdish source alleged the protests were fueled by social media campaigns and possibly linked to Turkey and factions within Damascus.

Sunni Arab Syrians held large-scale demonstrations in the northern Syrian city of Hasakah after Friday prayers, demanding the dissolution of Kurdish-led autonomous structures and the imposition of full control by the Damascus government. The protesters, many from Arab tribes and some from neighboring Deir al-Zur province, carried the flag of the new Syrian regime and were accompanied by government internal security forces. The unrest comes after the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of Northeast Syria was formally dissolved in January 2026, following a military push by Damascus, though many of its institutions continued to function in reality. A source from the Kurdish authority in Hasakah told The Jerusalem Post that the protests were fueled by a coordinated social media campaign involving fake accounts and Syrians in Europe, and that participants raised portraits of Saddam Hussein and chanted sectarian slogans including 'Syria without minorities.' The source alleged that factions within Damascus, possibly with ties to Turkey, may be seeking to exploit the tensions to justify expanding central government control over Hasakah, similar to the approach in Sweida. The article notes that the Damascus authorities have not commented, and that only minor attention has been given to the unrest in regional and international media.