Kurdish residents of Cyprus staged a protest march on Monday from Nicosia’s Eleftheria Square to the US embassy to request Washington step in to stop attacks on Kurds in northern Syria since the fall of the Assad regime at the weekend.

The march, which began at 1pm is being organised by the local branch of the Party of Democratic Union (PYD) in Syria.

“We will request immediate US intervention to stop the terrorist attacks,” a statement said.

The PYD said that after the fall of Damascus, “terrorist organisations” turned their attention to the Kurdish population in the city of Manbij.

“Turkish planes are also participating in the attack, bombing the city,” the statement said.

According to Reuters, Turkey-backed Syrian rebels entered the northern Syrian city of Manbij after taking control of most of the surrounding area from US-allied Kurdish forces there, a Turkish security source said.
Syrian rebels in the south declared President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster on Sunday after seizing control of Damascus. The Turkey-backed rebels in the north are aligned with the rebels in the south, sharing the same goal of defeating Assad, the news agency said.

“The city’s residents are facing the dilemma of leaving their homes to save themselves,” the PYD said.
“The terrorist organisations are being armed and reinforced by Turkey. This is yet another Turkish intervention and invasion into Syria,” it added.

The PYD said that in February 2018, the Turkish army invaded northern Syria and has since occupied the Afrin region. Many of the civilians who are now fleeing their homes have been refugees since 2018, from Afrin, the PYD said.

“References to ‘Syrian opposition’, or even ‘rebels’, do not accurately describe the situation in Syria. They are misleading,” the statement said.

After the capture of Aleppo and other cities, it added, half a million civilians, mostly Kurds, have been forced to flee their homes.

“Obviously, these refugees are not participating in the celebrations for the terrorists. However, the flow of refugees is not being reported in the media,” the PYD said.

The organisation said that they would be meeting a representative from the US embassy to request immediate intervention by Washington.