The Kurdish dream of an autonomous region in northeast Syria with US backing has come to an end
News Desk - The Cradle
“I want to say that the phase of integrating military, security, and administrative institutions into national state institutions is complete and finished,” stated Abdi, who heads the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Abdi made the announcement at an event in Qamishli in northeastern Syria.
“From now on, we begin a new phase. Our struggle will continue to cement our people's rights in the constitution,” he added.
The integration was completed as part of an agreement reached in January between Abdi and Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, the former Al-Qaeda and Islamic State leader.
The agreement was reached after Sharaa's extremist-led Syrian army defeated the Kurdish-led forces of the SDF in fighting that began in December in Aleppo and ended in the fall of the SDF's stronghold of Hasakah in Syria's far northeast in January.
The SDF lost swathes of territory it had taken from ISIS, including Arab-majority areas in Raqqa and Deir Ezzor.
Government forces entered the cities of Hasakah and Qamishli, and Damascus took control of Qamishli Airport and key oil fields, while committing atrocities against Kurds.
Amid the Syrian army's assault, thousands of ISIS prisoners escaped detention centers and camps run by the SDF, while US troops transferred more than 5,700 ISIS detainees to neighboring Iraq.
As part of the agreement reached in January, self-proclaimed President Sharaa granted Kurds national rights and recognized Kurdish as an official language.
Shortly thereafter, Noureddine Ahmed Eissa, a Kurd from the city of Qamishli, was appointed governor of Hasakah, while senior Kurdish military official Sipan Hamo was appointed regional assistant defense minister.
The SDF was created in 2015 and enjoyed the backing of the US military to create a Kurdish autonomous region in the northeast of the country resembling the autonomous region established by Iraqi Kurds in 1991.
The US wished to use the Kurds to keep Syria divided, weaken the government of former president Bashar al-Assad, and prevent the country's oil resources from being used for post-war construction.
However, Washington dropped its support for the SDF in January, “favoring the US-friendly authorities” that took over after the fall of Assad in 2024, AFP wrote, in reference to Sharaa and his former Al-Qaeda fighters.
The integration of the SDF with the central government in Damascus essentially puts an end to the Kurdish dream of autonomy.
“Dissolving the SDF means a bitter end,” stated Mutlu Civiroglu, a Washington-based analyst and expert on the Kurds.
No comments:
Post a Comment