The Rights Monitor platform has recorded a public threat of slaughter directed at Kurds, issued by an armed individual accompanied by an armed group affiliated with the Syrian interim authority, represented by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham. The threat appears in a publicly circulated video and contains inciting language, hate speech, and explicit threats to use a bladed weapon, constituting a direct threat to the lives of civilians on ethnic grounds.
On 7 February 2026, Rights Monitor documented a video showing an armed individual alongside an armed group speaking in a local Arabic dialect while brandishing a knife. The speaker identifies himself and those with him as the “al-Battar Battalion” and states that they are heading toward the city of al-Hasakah in northern Syria, noting that they were, at the time of filming, in the al-Khamā’il area (south of al-Hasakah).
The speaker states: “To Rojava, to Mazloum Abdi (Commander-in-Chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces), and to Moayad Shweish (a Kurdish singer): by God, I will mutilate you (slaughter you) with this knife. If you are Kurds, then we are the sons of al-Barz,” after which the footage concludes with collective religious chants.
These statements constitute a direct threat, incitement to violence, and hate speech based on ethnic identity, issued by an armed group within the context of a non-international armed conflict.
These threats occur within a broader context of serious violations committed against Kurdish civilians as part of the military operation carried out by the forces of the Syrian interim authority, represented by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, against areas with a Kurdish majority.
The operations began on 6 January 2026 with attacks targeting the Sheikh Maqsoud and al-Ashrafiyah neighborhoods in the city of Aleppo, prior to their seizure on 10 January 2026.
Subsequently, the operations expanded to areas east of the Euphrates following alliances formed between certain Arab tribes and the interim government forces, particularly in Raqqa and the northern countryside of Deir ez-Zor. As the operations advanced, violations escalated to include other Kurdish areas, including Kobani, the countryside of al-Hasakah, and the countryside of Qamishli.
Multiple human rights documentations indicate that the recent large-scale military campaign targeting areas with a Kurdish majority resulted in the killing, arrest, and enforced disappearance of large numbers of Kurdish civilians and fighters, in addition to other grave violations, including indiscriminate killings and the targeting of civilians and residential homes.
The documented video demonstrates a pattern of public threats and incitement that heightens the risk of subsequent crimes and constitutes an alarming indicator of intent to target individuals on the basis of ethnic identity.
Rights Monitor affirms that these public threats pose an imminent danger to the safety of Kurdish civilians and calls for accountability for those responsible, the adoption of urgent measures to protect civilians, the cessation of incitement and hate speech, and the ensuring of respect for the rules of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
