In downtown Hassakeh, the capital of "Rojava," a portrait of Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the PKK. (Credit: Clara Hage/L'Orient-Le Jour)
The first outpost bearing the flag of the autonomous administration emerges from a cloud of dust. The May heat bears down on the northeastern Syrian desert, unintimidated by a wind coming in from the mountains that twists dirt and plastic debris into tiny tornadoes.The border separating Syria from the territory self-administered by Kurdish authorities — nearly a third of the country — is, for now, only symbolic. No one is manning the checkpoint. The only thing slowing down traffic is a roadblock made of stones. Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime last Dec. 8, entry into so-called "Syrian Kurdistan" is detoured onto a rough track, where cars inch forward, trying not to bruise their underbellies.This small detour says a lot about the immediate suspicions among local authorities upon the arrival of the rebel forces led by...
The first outpost bearing the flag of the autonomous administration emerges from a cloud of dust. The May heat bears down on the northeastern Syrian desert, unintimidated by a wind coming in from the mountains that twists dirt and plastic debris into tiny tornadoes.The border separating Syria from the territory self-administered by Kurdish authorities — nearly a third of the country — is, for now, only symbolic. No one is manning the checkpoint. The only thing slowing down traffic is a roadblock made of stones. Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime last Dec. 8, entry into so-called "Syrian Kurdistan" is detoured onto a rough track, where cars inch forward, trying not to bruise their underbellies.This small detour says a lot about the immediate suspicions among local authorities upon the arrival of the rebel forces...
