Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces Hints It May Join with Damascus To Oppose Turks’ Incursion
Oct. 9, 2019 (EIRNS)—The launching of the Turkish “Peace Spring” operation in northeastern Syria may accelerate the rapprochement between the U.S.-backed Kurdish SDF and the Syrian government in Damascus. Already, yesterday, two senior Kurdish officials, in interviews with Western media, said they were exploring that option in the face of the Turkish invasion and the U.S. military pull-back announced on Oct. 6. Gen. Mazloum Kobani Abdi, the military commander of the SDF, told NBC News yesterday, that he’s now considering “what would have been unthinkable a few years ago”: partnering with Syrian President Bashar Assad to fight the Turkish forces. “This is one of the options that we have on the table,” Mazloum said.
Another Kurdish official, Badran Jia Kurd, spoke similarly to Reuters. “If America vacates the area, and especially the border area, for certain we, as a self-administration and as the SDF, will be forced to study all the available options,” Jia Kurd said. “At that time we may hold talks with Damascus or the Russian side to fill the void or block the Turkish attack, so this may develop, and there could be meetings and contacts in case of a vacuum,” he said.
Syria’s Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad welcomed such a possibility. “Anyone not loyal to the homeland and who sold it out for cheapest price [a reference to the Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army] will be thrown out of history. We have warned multiple times against these conspiracies against the homeland and the people of Syria,” Mekdad told the pro-government Al-Watan daily on Oct. 8, reported Kurdish media network Rudaw. However, “in the end, the homeland welcomes all its sons and we want to resolve all the Syrian issues in a positive way and away from violence but in a way that preserves every inch of Syrian land.”
Moscow also wants to push things in that direction. “We contacted both the representatives of the Kurdish side and the representatives of the government [Syria],” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during a press conference this morning, reported TASS, “and confirmed that we are encouraging them to start a dialogue to resolve the problems of this part of Syria, including the problems of ensuring security on the Turkish-Syrian border. As before, this is the only way to achieve stability.” Lavrov reiterated that the Russian position is “unequivocal, based on the need to solve all the problems of this part of the Syrian Arab Republic through a dialogue between the central government in Damascus and representatives of the Kurdish communities that traditionally reside in this territory.” Moscow is committed to promoting the dialogue between Kurds and Damascus, since it sees that as “the only way toward stability,” Lavrov declared.
