Syrian Kurdish fighter’s selfie video leads to allegations of massacre

Warning: readers could also be disturbed by the content material of this text. 

The chilling video was posted on Fb on January 22 by an account based mostly in Germany which has since been shut down. The video is filmed by a person who seems to be half of the majority-Kurdish group the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), posing selfie-style in entrance of a row of our bodies on the bottom. He’s smiling broadly and has a rifle slung over his arm. 

Within the video, he claims that one of the fighters with the SDF – who’re thought to have dedicated this massacre –  joked that they need to blow the our bodies up. A second video reveals bullets being fired on the our bodies, although it’s unclear who’s taking pictures. 

This footage paperwork a massacre that occurred on January 22 close to Kobane in northwestern Syria. An area Fb group Radar Sarine reported that the SDF had carried out extrajudicial killings of no less than 21 younger males. The SDF had allegedly simply launched the victims from Yeddi Qawi Jail close to Kobane.

Fifteen our bodies recovered 

The massacre documented within the video occurred towards an advanced backdrop. January 2026 noticed important numbers of SDF forces retreating from the Syrian cities of Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa in the direction of Kobane. On January 19, clashes broke out between these fighters and the Syrian Military close to the Tishrin Dam south of Kobane. 

Someday after that, in circumstances which are nonetheless unclear, doorways have been opened at Yeddi Qawi, a jail situated south of Kobane, ensuing within the flight of many of the individuals who had been imprisoned there. Someday after that, the massacre documented within the video posted on-line on January 22 occurred. 

A Fb web page devoted to native information reported that members of the Syrian Civil Defence had recovered the our bodies of 15 victims of a massacre they mentioned occurred close to Kobane and handed them over to native authorities. The our bodies have been then transferred to Manbij Nationwide Hospital, the place the households may gather them.

Mukhtar (not his actual title) says he was incarcerated within the jail within the village of Yeddi Qawi. He shared with us a replica of the paperwork he acquired upon leaving the jail which have been issued by the Kurdish Autonomous Administration, confirming that he was imprisoned in Yeddi Qawi. 

In accordance to Mukhtar, the massacre and the occasions main up to it occurred between January 19 and 22, 2026. 

He describes the jail the place he was being held as overcrowded, with lots of of males being held. He says a majority of the prisoners there have been Arab, with a small Kurdish minority. 

“They have been talking to us a few common amnesty. However solely the Kurdish detainees have been being launched. A few hundred of them. In the meantime, they have been telling us Arabs, ‘Your flip will come.’ Many believed it.”

The state of affairs grew to become more and more tense and, on January 21, prisoners began burning sheets, mattresses and beds. There was smoke in every single place.

“We have been choking. Folks have been screaming. At one level, the SDF opened the doorways. Not to allow us to out however to maintain everybody inside from dying. I’d say that between 300 and 400 prisoners, together with me, left the jail and headed into the close by fields. From there, we separated and dispersed. Some of us headed within the route of Sarrin, and others – possibly about 30 folks – headed in the direction of Kobane.”

‘They fell proper in entrance of me’

Mukhtar says that when the fleeing prisoners had made it about 1.5km from the jail, they have been intercepted by a number of autos carrying SDF fighters. Mukhtar then went on to describe extrajudicial killings that occurred earlier than these documented within the video. 

“They start by firing photographs within the air. Folks have been operating in each route. Then, they began taking pictures at us. I noticed males fall in entrance of me. They have been carrying nothing – no weapons, not even cell telephones. 

They fell proper in entrance of me. 4 or 5 folks died instantly, whereas others have been injured. Everybody was panicking. I managed to disguise in a discipline, however was later stopped at an SDF roadblock. They tied my arms and made all of us survivors lie face down on the asphalt. Some of the troopers needed to execute us then and there.”

Mukhtar says that some of the feminine SDF troopers intervened on their behalf and dissuaded the boys from executing his group. He and his group have been taken again to Yaddi Mawa jail. Others appear to have been despatched elsewhere.  

‘It was revenge and ethnic discrimination’

“I used to be lastly launched once more on the night of January 22, 2026. After we have been launched, I headed in the direction of Ain al-Arab [also known as Kobane] whereas one other group of about 27 folks went in the direction of the Sarrin area. 

Members of the Autonomous Administration [Editor’s note: the civilian branch of the SDF] had them get into autos. They have been going to drive them to the final level below Kurdish management earlier than reaching territory below the management of the Syrian regime. 

Most of these within the group of 27 folks have been killed. I used to be at a checkpoint on the south entrance to Kobane after I heard the information. I noticed some of the injured folks arrive. I recognised some of the folks within the video.

These murders weren’t to stop folks from escaping. It was revenge and ethnic discrimination. The troopers have been insulting the victims and saying to the prisoners, ‘In any case, you’ll die.’

I survived together with 4 different folks. We made it to a service station alongside the street, and the proprietor allow us to in and gave us shelter. Three days later, he introduced us to an space outdoors of Kurdish management.”

Mukhtar thinks that between 40 and 45 folks have been executed on January 22.

“The quantity is way greater than the 21 our bodies that you would be able to see within the video as a result of there have been different executions elsewhere,” he defined. 

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) mentioned that the pictures have been genuine, although they claimed that the our bodies have been these of armed fighters killed throughout clashes. Our Observer’s account casts doubt on this declare, as do the movies themselves. The our bodies are lined up neatly, and there are not any weapons to be seen. They’re additionally all carrying civilian clothes. 

Adnan Al-Hussein, a journalist based mostly within the area, says that the movies present proof.

“Every thing within the video signifies that the realm has been secured. If there had been combating, we’d see the remnants. Right here, you see males who’ve been gathered right here, restrained and killed.”

‘I’m telling my story for individuals who died’ 

Mukhtar says that talking out comes with dangers.

“I hesitated. But when I stay silent, then they die a second time. I’m not asking for worldwide justice. I’m asking for the reality to be spoken. I’m telling my story for individuals who died.”

Folks in Manbij are nonetheless working to determine the our bodies. Nonetheless, the quantity of casualties stays unknown. 

Tributes to two younger males thought to have been killed within the massacre have been revealed on the Radar Sarin Fb web page. One man, Ismail Al-Hassani, referred to as Abu Halab, was from the village of Al-Qubba. The second, Abbas Muhammad Al-Hussein, was from the village of Al-Abdkliya in Sarin district. Our Observer additionally spoke of the loss of life of these two males.