14/01/2026
When History Sings in the Voice of Layla
Between Khanaqin and Sheikh Maqsoud in Aleppo, a red telegraph pulses through the very veins of the nation. Two girls, two eagles, two names—as if God had drawn the letter “L” from the spirit of freedom twice, to redefine the meaning of “Kurd”!
Khanaqin's Layla, when she placed the rope of death around her neck like a necklace, became a cloud that rained over all of Kurdistan before the chair was removed beneath her feet. She told her ex*****oners: "You are only strangling a body, but me, I will become a name; and in the future, in every city of this land, a girl will be born and bear my name."
History has presented itself to the present as a mirror. In the parched streets of Sheikh Maqsoud, another Layla, radiant and resolute, became the shield of the city. If the first Layla was heaven incarnate in the face of ex*****on, this Layla of Rojava became earth incarnate in the face of bullets and blood. She would not allow the invaders' gloom darken the windows of our homes.
O daughters of the sun! You have shown us that a country is not merely land—it is the glory that shines in your eyes. When the enemy believed the Kurds were defeated, you became the bride from Khanaqin and the tiger from Aleppo, proclaiming to history: as long as there are Laylas here, the fortress of this nation shall not be shaken by any storm.
Now, Khanaqin weeps for Aleppo, and Aleppo smiles for Khanaqin, for they both know that Layla’s blood bears the same colour: the red of freedom.
Written by Sherko Mirwais
The photo below shows Layla Qasim of Khanaqin who was executed by the former Iraqi Ba'ath regime on the left and Layla Qasim who died during the Sheikh Maqsoud escalation in Aleppo on the right.
