20/01/2026 | Writer: Kaos GL
“As LGBTI+ people coming together for peace, we call on all social groups—especially the international LGBTI+ community—to strengthen the possibility of peace to stop this war and prevent massacres.”
The LGBTI+ Initiative for Peace (BİL+) has released a written statement regarding the attacks by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) forces on Aleppo and Rojava in Syria. The Initiative called on the international community and the LGBTI+ movement to strengthen the prospect of peace against the war policies in the region.
In the multilingual statement, it was noted that the process, which began with HTS attacks on Kurdish neighborhoods in Aleppo, continued with operations targeting areas under the administration of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Emphasizing that these attacks are "the first steps toward establishing a dictatorship in Syria," BİL+ characterized the events as preparations for a genocide against the Kurds.
“This method of brutality invokes a terrible memory for us LGBTI+s”
The statement reacted sharply to the treatment of a female fighter’s body in Aleppo, likening the practices of the jihadist groups to the ISIS era:
“These Islamist attacks carried out by HTS are the first steps toward establishing a dictatorship in Syria. We witnessed with horror and rage the torture footage circulated by jihadist gangs and the throwing of a woman fighter's dead body from a roof in Aleppo. This method of atrocity invokes a terrible memory for us LGBTI+ people; the practice of the ISIS mentality murdering LGBTI+ persons they deem "deviant" by throwing them from high buildings is today being applied to women resistance fighters by the same mentality. HTS’s attack on the "Free Woman Monument" in Rojava is one of the most striking examples of this misogyny.”
Anfal reference and genocide warning
The Initiative interpreted the Syrian Ministry of Religious Affairs and Endowments characterizing the attacks as a "conquest" and citing the Quran’s Surah al-Anfal as a historical threat of genocide. It was stated that this reference to the Anfal Operation, which took place in Iraq in the late 1980s and resulted in the massacre of thousands of Kurds, revealed the racist and genocidal intent of the regime.
“HTS redeploying ISIS gangs to the field means new massacres”
The text summarized HTS's actions since coming to power as follows:
“HTS gangs have been carrying out massacres targeting different faiths and lifestyles against Druze, Christians, and Alevis in cities like Suwayda and Latakia for months. Furthermore, after seizing power in Damascus, HTS first rounded up LGBTI+ persons from the streets, massacred them, and circulated torture footage. Now, by attacking Rojava—where women are equally represented and a gender-libertarian paradigm is realized—it is trying to spread its monist and oppressive rule to the whole country. What HTS wants to do while establishing its central power consists solely of building a male-dominated, LGBTI+-hostile, racist, and Islamist regime of oppression.
The release of ISIS members by HTS in the regions it has captured points to a dark future. The massacres by ISIS in Syria, the Yazidi genocide in Sinjar, the bomb attacks on the October 10 Peace Rally in Turkey, as well as in Suruç and Amed, the attack on an LGBTI+ bar in Orlando, USA, and attacks in many parts of the world are still fresh in our memory. HTS putting ISIS gangs back on the field means new massacres.”
"Demanding peace is not a crime"
The statement also criticized the detentions and arrests in Turkey targeting those who oppose the war, stating, "Demanding peace and standing against massacres is not a crime," and demanded the release of the arrested youth.
Noting that the attacks violate international law, including the Geneva Conventions and CEDAW, BİL+ concluded the statement with the following call:
“As LGBTI+ people coming together for peace, we call on all social groups—especially the international LGBTI+ community—to strengthen the possibility of peace to stop this war and prevent massacres, to listen to the voice of the people of Rojava, and to convey the message to stop HTS’s advance, war policies, and jihadist occupation to decision-makers in their own countries and to struggle for peace.”
Tags: human rights, women
