DALLAS — While thousands of people poured into the American Airlines Center Thursday night for President Donald Trump's rally, hundreds of were outside protesting the event.
In particular, members from Dallas' Kurdish-American community gathered in opposition of President Trump's foreign policy connected to Syria. People came with flags and signs, chanting near the American Airlines Center.
Nezar Ahmed joined the cause, saying people in Dallas don't fully understand what is going on overseas.
"We want to know why all of a sudden there's a change of heart," Ahmed said. "The Kurds are down there. They've been our allies, and 11,000 Kurds died to make sure that the U.S. national security interests were one."
Fighting broke out between Turkey and Kurdish forces along the northeast Syrian border just days after Trump announced he was pulling U.S. forces from Syria.
The Americans have been working with a Kurd-led Syrian group known as the Syrian Democratic Forces to combat the Islamic State group for five years. Turkey has long objected to the U.S.-Kurd alliance because Turkey considers elements of that force to be terrorists tied to an insurgency inside Turkey.
"Now we want to make sure that we're good on our agreement and don't leave our allies -- the Kurds -- and other Christians that are stuck in northern Syria to slaughter," Ahmed said.
On Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence announced a cease-fire agreement had been reached between Turkey and Kurdish forces, but some fighting lingered in the region Friday. As part of the agreement, Kurdish forces agreed to withdraw from the security zone along the border.
While the president celebrated the five-day cease-fire as a diplomatic win, the stability of the region is still unclear.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
