"We're going to Rojava to defend every centimetre of the land of Kurdistan," the 58-year-old teacher said of the semi-autonomous Kurdish territory in northeast Syria.

"Each of us can defend our homeland in our own way, even if it means taking up arms," Majid told AFP in the autonomous northern Kurdistan region of Iraq.

On Tuesday, around 20 buses left the city of Sulaimaniyah despite the wintry weather, after Kurdish forces urged their comrades in Syria and other countries to unite and join the "resistance".

Nearly two weeks ago Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa's forces launched an offensive that pushed the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) out of Aleppo, then advanced deep into the northeastern area of Syria held by Kurdish forces, angering Kurds across the region.

Sharaa is determined to extend Damascus' authority over all of Syria, following the ouster in December 2024 of Bashar al-Assad.

On Sunday, Sharaa announced that agreement had been reached with the Kurds under military pressure.

The Islamist president aims to integrate Kurdish civil and military institutions into the state.

The move has dealt a blow to the minority's aspirations for autonomy, after it established a self-governed zone in north and northeast Syria during the country's 2011-2024 civil war.

The Syrian army took control of Raqa and Deir Ezzor provinces in the north and northeast after the SDF withdrew, and has massed troops on the outskirts of Kurdish areas in Hasakeh province, where SDF fighters have now fallen back.

- 'Injustice' -

Damascus has given the Kurds four days to come up with a plan for the integration of Kurdish-majority Hasakeh province into the state, during which time the army will observe a ceasefire.

Abu Bakr Haldani, a former member of the Kurdistan regional parliament in Iraq, said on Tuesday he was heading to Syria to provide "moral support".

He called for "all political, moral, material and diplomatic efforts to be made so the injustice against our people goes away".

Nearby, a woman hugged her husband in farewell as young men flashed the "V for victory" sign and chanted pro-Kurdish slogans.

"It is our duty as Kurds to rely only on ourselves and our strength, not on America or anyone else," said retired Kurdish fighter Adel Ahmad.

Many Kurds feel abandoned by the United States, which supported them in their fight against the Islamic State group (IS) jihadists before later backing Sharaa's unification efforts.

"We don't like problems and we don't like wars, but they're always imposed on us," said 68-year-old Ahmad.

Kurds are spread across Syria, Iraq, Iran and Turkey.

They say that throughout their history, their attempts to establish an independent state have been systematically repressed by regional and international powers.

In Suleimaniyah, it was not only Iraqi Kurds boarding the buses on Tuesday.

"The Kurds are one people and are united around one cause," said 27-year-old Sayed Bagheri, originally from Kermanshah in western Iran.