By Michael Arizanti
As Syria navigates a historic political transformation following Bashar al-Assad’s fall, the fight for press freedom continues- but not where many might expect. While independent journalists now report freely from Damascus and other areas under the transitional government’s control, the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) maintains an oppressive media landscape eerily reminiscent of the fallen regime’s tactics.
The Information Vacuum: How the SDF Controls the Narrative
The northeastern region, under AANES and its armed wing, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), remains largely closed to independent journalists. Information about arrests, abductions, and human rights violations surfaces primarily through social media leaks rather than traditional reporting.
According to the Syrian Kurdish Journalists Network (SKJN), AANES enforces systematic restrictions on press freedom, selectively granting access only to journalists aligned with its political agenda. Independent voices face intimidation, censorship, or outright expulsion- a strategy that has mirrored Assad’s playbook of media suppression.
The global media industry’s challenges- shuttered foreign bureaus, financial instability for freelancers, and limited on-the-ground verification- exacerbate the problem, allowing the SDF to control the narrative with little outside scrutiny.
Deir al-Zor: A Case Study in Information Blackouts
Following the collapse of Assad’s regime and the SDF’s subsequent occupation of Deir al-Zor, reports of widespread looting and human rights violations by SDF forces remain largely undocumented by international media. Despite the region’s strategic importance- both economically and politically- the lack of independent oversight has allowed unchecked abuses to continue.
A Pattern of Human Rights Violations
On February 6, 2025, the Syrian Network for Human Rights reported that SDF snipers had killed 65 civilians, including a child and two women, in Aleppo between November 29, 2024, and February 2025. This follows a well-documented pattern of extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, and suppression of protests across SDF-controlled territories.
The SKJN’s Annual Report for 2024 further documents 13 major violations against journalists and media professionals in northeastern Syria, including:
-Arrests & Enforced Disappearances: Several journalists were abducted by AANES security forces, detained in unknown locations for months without trial.
-Physical Assaults & Equipment Seizures: Security forces routinely confiscated journalists’ cameras, laptops, and notes, preventing them from reporting.
-Targeted Killings: Two journalists were killed in Turkish drone strikes while reporting in Kobani and Qamishli.
Death Threats & -Intimidation: Journalists critical of the AANES received direct threats online, some even targeting their families.
Censorship & -Expulsions: Media outlets like Kurdistan 24 and Rudaw remain banned in SDF-controlled areas.
These violations expose the AANES’s systematic suppression of press freedom, contradicting its claims of democratic governance.
The PKK Connection: Western Misconceptions and Overlooked Crimes
Despite Western governments promoting AANES as a progressive force, the administration’s close ties to the PKK—designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., EU, and Türkiye—raise serious concerns.
The SDF-PKK network has been linked to:
-Car bombings targeting civilians
-Drug trafficking and organized crime
-Political assassinations of Kurdish dissidents
-Covert cooperation with the former Assad regime and Iran
Yet, international media largely ignore these realities, allowing the SDF to maintain a facade of legitimacy.
Manipulating Information: A Disinformation Machine
The PKK and its affiliates have openly admitted to manipulating information for “security reasons”, including:
-Delaying casualty reports to mask internal losses
-Inflating enemy death tolls to boost morale
-Silencing dissenters through online smear campaigns
One notable example came in April 2023, when the SDF initially denied that its commander, Mazloum Abdi, was present at the site of a drone strike in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq- only to later admit he had been there and was likely the intended target.
AANES: The New Authoritarian Power?
The oppression of journalists in northeastern Syria mirrors that of past regimes. One Iraqi Kurdish parliamentarian who had previously criticized the AANES as a “dictatorship” akin to North Korea later revealed he could no longer speak publicly due to PKK threats.
Bente Scheller, Middle East director at the Heinrich Böll Foundation, highlights how Assad’s regime deliberately withdrew from the northeast in 2012 to allow the PYD (PKK’s Syrian affiliate) to consolidate power, effectively forming a shadow government that served both regime and PKK interests.
Even after Assad’s fall, these dynamics persist. Many Syrians- Arabs, Kurds, Druze, and others- express the sentiment that “all regimes are the same,” pointing to the AANES’s authoritarian grip as proof.
The Fight for Press Freedom Continues
While journalists now operate freely in Damascus, northeastern Syria remains under a media blackout. The AANES-SDF’s suppression of independent reporting mirrors the very authoritarianism it claims to oppose.
The international community must acknowledge that media control- whether by Assad or the SDF- is a fundamental threat to democracy. Supporting a truly free press in Syria requires challenging all forms of censorship and propaganda.
As Syria moves toward a new era, the need for unrestricted, independent journalism has never been more critical.
