Hussein Yazdanpana, Commander-in-Chief of the Kurdistan National Army, announced on January 19, 2026, the decision to participate in defending Rojava, with the command entering urgent discussions on mechanisms to reach defensive lines, as stated in a post on X shared between 12:16 AM and 12:45 AM UTC on January 20. The announcement, posted by HusenYazdanpana on X, describes Rojava under threat from Damascus targeting Kurds amid an international agreement, calling for national resistance. A peshmerga from Kalar in PUK territory called on Barzani to open the border for crossing into Syria to support Rojava, according to a video shared by BarracudaVol1 on X in the same 29-minute period. These developments follow Syria's Ministry of Interior re-arresting 81 ISIS escapees from Al-Shaddadi prison in Hasakah countryside, as announced between 11:46 PM UTC on January 19 and 12:15 AM UTC on January 20, per a statement translated by azelin on X. Protests in solidarity with Kurds in Kobani and Hasakah occurred in Zakho near the Iraq-Syria border, reported by vvanwilgenburg on X.
