On the evening of Wednesday, October 29, 2025, the Maratah Roundabout in the city of Afrin, northern Syria, witnessed a demonstration in which dozens of settlers took part. The protest followed the killing of two members of the Ministry of Defense affiliated with the Interim Authority (Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham) in the vicinity of Tishreen Dam in the Aleppo countryside.
During the demonstration, a settler from Deir Ezzor known as “Abu Ahmad” chanted sectarian slogans and hurled insults against Kurds, Alawites, and Druze. He described the Kurds as “Boyjiyeh – shoeshiners,” a derogatory term used by supporters of the Interim Authority to demean Kurds and commonly circulated in hate speech on social media. He also issued threats to fight the Kurds and cursed the United States for supporting them.
The Interim Authority announced that the two soldiers were killed as a result of being targeted by a guided missile near Tishreen Dam, accusing the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) of responsibility. For its part, the SDF denied involvement in the incident in a statement issued by its media center, asserting that the explosion was caused by landmines in the vicinity of the transitional government’s military post and not by any attack from their side. The SDF reaffirmed its commitment to avoiding escalation and maintaining stability along contact lines, calling on media outlets to verify information and refrain from circulating inaccurate reports.
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