Hevrin Khalaf

Early life and education Khalaf was born on 15 November 1984 in Al-Malikiyah.

Career Soon after graduating, Khalaf returned to Al-Malikiyah. When the Rojava conflict began, Khalaf worked on creating institutions that would improve civil society. She began managing one of the Economic Councils. Khalaf rose to prominence in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. Khalaf participated in negotiations with the United States, France, and other delegations. She was known for her skill in diplomacy. Aden Al Hendi described Khalaf's work ethic in Foreign Policy as such: “She would wake up at 5 in the morning and would not stop working until midnight, whether that involved traveling to the Deir Ezzor region, which was recently liberated from the Islamic State, to tutor children and teenagers there in math, or meeting with Arab tribal leaders and helping resolve their many disputes in her role as the secretary-general of the Future Syria Party (FSP). She personified the way the FSP and the Syrian Democratic Council approached the many differences among the people of the region.” Khalaf was one of a number of civilians who were killed during the first days of the Turkish-backed military operation, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reporting that "nine civilians were executed at different moments south of the town of Tal Abyad". The National Army, a rebel group fighting alongside Turkey, denied responsibility for the killing. Khalaf's death was one of many during Operation Peace Spring, which began on 9 October 2019.

Kurdish analyst Mutlu Civiroglu, told The Guardian that Khalaf's death was a "great loss", and described her as having "a talent for diplomacy". Future Syria Party released a statement saying, "With utmost grievance and sadness, the Syria Future Party mourns the martyrdom of engineer Hevrin Khalaf, the General Secretary of Syria Future Party, while she was performing her patriotic and political duties". A video which circulated on social media purportedly showed the bullet-ridden vehicle in which Khalaf had been travelling with translators and other Kurdish personnel surrounded by Turkish-backed Syrian rebels.

A Bellingcat video traces the cause of Khalaf's death to rebels backed by Turkey and further reports that the group Ahrar al-Sharqiya is associated with the murders. While al-Sharqiya has denied involvement with her death, there have been videos alleging otherwise. One such video shows a body, face down, that is suspected by most to be Khalaf with a Turkish backed soldier standing over her. In the video, the soldier taps the body with his feet and says "this is the corpse of pigs."

According to The Washington Post, the killing "almost certainly constitute a war crime, under international law". While Turkish-backed groups deny any and all allegations, many videos of their involvement and complicity have been leaked, similar to the video that was potentially a depiction of Khalaf. Furthermore, many groups were instructed on an encrypted chat site called 'Telegram' "not to publish any video filmed during the battles because it distorts our reputation."

In January 2020, the BBC's Arabic service published an investigation into the death of Hevrin Khalaf which found that a sub-group of the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army, Ahrar al-Sharqiya, had extrajudiciarily murdered Khalaf on the M4 Motorway, at the Tirwaziya checkpoint. Ahrar al-Sharqiya responded to the BBC's investigation, stating that "The group that set up the checkpoint on the M4 that day did so without permission... Those who violated orders from leadership have been sent for trial."