Hewrin Xelef was a Kurdish-Syrian politician and served as the Secretary General of the Future Syria Party after working for many years in Rojava in northern Syria. Xelef was killed on 12 October in northern Syria when the Turkish state launched a military operation in the region.
Xelef played a vital role in fostering Kurdish-Arab friendships and worked for a joint future in postwar Syria. On 13 October 2019, The Daily Telegraph reported that “Kurdish officials said rebel fighters intercepted a car carrying Hewrin Xelef”, and that Xelef was one of a number of civilians who were killed during the first days of the Turkish-backed military operations.
Harald Doornbos, who is a Dutch journalist based in the Middle East, shared information about the pro-Turkey Syrian groups who murdered Xelef. According to Doornbos, these groups went to Syria from Germany.
Although concrete evidence proves that the murder of Hewrin Xelef is connected to Ahrar al-Sharqiya, the Syrian rebel group, in the year since the incident no one has been put on trial.
