Salih Muslim, a senior member of the ruling council of area occupied by the US-led coalition and its proxies in northeastern Syria, has come with a harsh response to remarks by Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem.
“Anybody try to attack our liberated areas will face the same fate as DAESH,” Muslim tweeted obviously pointing out to the defeat of ISIS in Raqqa and nearby areas, which had been achieved by the Kurdish-dominated “Syrian Democratic Forces” with help from the US-led coalition.
While Muslim’s comments themselves are aimed to spin the meaning of al-Muallem’s remarks, who once again proposed the Kurdish faction negotiations in the legal framework of the Syrian constitution, these coments also ignore some important facts on the ground.
- ISIS is still not defeated on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River, which is allegedly “liberated” by the SDF and its patrons from the US. The terrorist group controls a large chunk of the area in the Euphrates Valley. The town of Hajin, which is located there, is the biggest existing ISIS stronghold in Syria.
- The Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which are the core of the SDF, already suffered a devastating defeat from Turkey in the northern Syrian region of Afrin earlier in 2018. Prior to abandonning a large part of northwestern Syria, the YPG was also claiming that it will defeat any force attacking it. The problem is that the words did not correspond with the reality.
The hostile approach employed by some leaders of the Kurdish groups and political parties receiving support from the US is one of the reasons fueling the Syrian conflict in its current stage. Russia, one of the key backers of Damascus, has repeatedly demonstrated that it’s ready to back negotiations between the Assad government and the Kurdish leaders if this approach is changed. However, it looks that some Kurdish leaders are not interested in promoting any kind of peaceful solution of the conflict because this will cut off a flow of financial and political support, which they receive from Washington.
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