ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Protests in Syria’s Kurdish city of Kobane turned into clashes with security forces on Friday following the brutal murder of a Kurdish man serving in the Syrian army, with a war monitor also reporting that security members chanted nationalist and provocative slogans.

Widespread protests erupted across Rojava (northeast Syria) on Friday following the abduction and violent murder of a Kurdish Syrian army fighter by a group of armed men allegedly from a Sunni Arab tribe based in Deir ez-Zor. Residents called for accountability and greater protection for the Kurdish community.

Demonstrations in the symbolic Kurdish city of Kobane escalated following “physical altercations between demonstrators and security personnel,” the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported Friday, prompting heightened security measures and the deployment of backup security forces.

Kurdish outlet Hawar News Agency (ANHA) reported Saturday on its Telegram channel that a 72-hour curfew had been imposed in the city.

Angry protesters allegedly threw rocks at security forces, opened fire, and burned several security vehicles, according to Kobane’s internal security directorate, which said it caused injuries among its forces without specifying how many.

“Security forces subsequently intervened to restore order and arrested a number of individuals involved in the attacks. Search and pursuit operations are ongoing to apprehend the remaining perpetrators,” the directorate said.

“There are accounts of warning shots fired into the air and the use of tear gas” by Syrian forces, SOHR said on Friday, adding that “all roads within the city have been blocked” amid the imposition of a curfew.

Security members also chanted “political and nationalist slogans” during the protests, including “where is your Rojava?” and “we crushed Qandil and broke you,” a sectarian slogan linking Syrian Kurds to the now-dismantled Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Turkey, as well as “[Syrian President] Ahmed al-Sharaa is the crown on your heads.”

A day after the protests, a fire broke out at the Kobane prison, with the Rojava-based Ronahi TV accusing security forces affiliated with Syria’s transitional government of attacking a prison in Kobane, saying the attack caused a fire inside the facility that led to the death of eight individuals and the injury of 18.

The tensions come despite the announced completion of the integration process between the SDF and Damascus, in line with the January 29 agreement, which entailed the incorporation of the Kurdish-led autonomous administration in northeast Syria into the auspices of the Syrian state.

The integration followed a violent military campaign by Damascus and its affiliated factions in January that led to the deaths of hundreds and saw a myriad of sectarian-induced war crimes committed against the Kurdish community.

Syria has fallen into sectarian conflict on several occasions since Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebels overthrew the Bashar al-Assad regime in December 2024, leading Ahmed al-Sharaa to seize the presidency, with the new authorities in Damascus having been repeatedly criticized for failing to protect minorities.