VIDEO: Syrian Kurds to announce Federal Army in Rojava

Syrian Kurdish military officials on Friday revealed a new federal army would be announced in the future for protecting the federal region in northern Syria (Rojava).
kurdistan24.net

QAMISHLO, Syrian Kurdistan (Kurdistan24) – Syrian Kurdish military officials on Friday revealed a new federal army would be announced in the future for protecting the federal region in northern Syria (Rojava).

As Syrian Kurds approach the announcement of an autonomous region under the name “Democratic Federal System for Rojava - Northern Syria,” official preparations are held for the construction of an army based on the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and Women Protection Units (YPJ).

On the second anniversary of the founding of the Syrian Kurdish Autonomous Protection Forces in northern Syria, Martyr Ahmed Bader Military Academy in the outskirts of Qamishlo organized a military parade.

Rezan Gilo, co-head of Defense Authority in Jazira canton, emphasized all armed forces in Rojava would unite as one army under the umbrella of the new federal system.

Jazira canton is one of the three Kurdish-ruled autonomous areas in northern Syria.

Jazira, Kobani, and Afrin cantons make up the Kurdish region in northern Syria called Rojava.

“The Army of Rojava-Northern Syria will be officially announced very soon,” Gilo said.

The Defense Authority co-head also pointed out the forces training for the past two years are growing and improving.

“They are becoming stronger day by day, and now they are ready to become the army of Syria’s northern areas under the umbrella of one system for the country’s north,” he said.  

According to some members of the Rojava-Northern Syria Federal System Organizing Council, this new army is meant to defend a Kurdish-brokered federal region across the country’s north.

On Nov. 1, 2014, the Autonomous Protection Forces were established in Rojava to defend the residential areas in northern Syria when the YPG and YPJ were fighting on the front lines.

These forces began with about 70 fighters, and now there are estimated to be tens of thousands. 

Syria’s Kurds have benefited from the chaos of the civil war that broke out in 2011, managing to expand their control across northern parts of the country.

On March 17, Syria’s Kurdish-controlled northern regions voted to declare a federal system in a Kurdish-led conference in the town of Rmelan.

A council of 31 members was named and tasked with laying the groundwork, within six months, for the federal region called the “social contract.”

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany

(Additional reporting by Dilovan Chatto in Qamishlo)