ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Amid continued efforts to sustain and even expand the influence of the pro-Kurdish Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), an official from the group implored that all the various ethno-religious groups in northeast Syria have a place.
Ethno-religious groups including Kurds, Arabs, Syriacs, Yezidis, Muslims, Christians, and Circassians should be brought into the fold, argued Habib in the outlet close to the political group.
The SDC serves as the political arm of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The SDF was the primary partnered ground force of the US-led international anti-ISIS coalition and has supported the formation of military and civil councils in liberated areas such as Raqqa, Tabqa, and Manbij.
The report notes the SDC has tried to expand its presence in Tirbe Spiye, Tel Hamis, Tel Kocher, Girge Lege, and Derik city.
Habib said they are intensifying meetings with tribal leaders, intellectuals, and people opposed to the Syrian regime, noting a "Clans' Forum" held on Monday in Ayn Issa.
The SDC is part of the umbrella of parties that form TEV-DEM, the ruling authority in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES), also called Rojava by Kurds.
Following the meetings in Syria, Habib said the SDC plans to hold conferences with other pro-opposition elements abroad as well.
Through the Syrian conflict, the SDC and SDF have opposed the rule of the Baathist regime of Bashar al-Assad. However, they have largely avoided all-out warfare with the Damascus-backed forces, unlike pro-opposition groups to the west in Aleppo and Hama governorates.
The SDF/SDC is seen as having few options but those which ultimately lead to negotiations with Damascus as neither the United States, nor Russia is willing to back to anti-ISIS group if Syrian political talks.
“In Syria, we’re remaining with our partners in the fight against the Daesh forces and that’s the SDF for the moment,” said Jeffrey, noting that they are continuing to work with the military as US President Donald Trump has announced a coordinated and deliberate troop withdrawal.
“Security and stability” are Washington’s aims, according to Jeffrey, because the rise of ISIS was a “manifestation of various dysfunctions in the Middle East. It’s not just extremist, Sunni, jihadist groups…”
Washington is continuing to monitor the number of attacks in Syria, Jeffrey said, but they are also looking “more at the overall political climate.”
“And that gets to the bigger picture in Syria that appears to be conducive to reconciliation and people continuing on their way without an authoritarian or totalitarian government arbitrarily wreaking violence on its own population; the more you can assume to local security forces will be able to deal with the tendencies of some people that will always be there to turn to radical extremist ideologies,” he said.
He noted that “night raids on farmhouses” and trying to change to the mindset of jihadists are not particularly effective strategies.
“Therefore, the US policy is for on Syria is not simply — although it’s very important in the enduring defeat of ISIS — to help affect a political process under the UN that will give us different governance of Syria…” he said, noting half of all Syrians have been displaced at one point or another through the conflict.
He acknowledged that despite an international mandate, the US wasn’t fighting ISIS in Syria and Iraq with “one eye forward and one eye back,” referring to US fights against previous insurgencies in the Middle East where al-Qaeda was propped up by regional support.
“We can be most proud of the people of Iraq and Syria who were affected by this,” added Jeffrey.
He said he had no specific information on a timeline or US troop numbers in Syria.
"This diversity created a difference of views, and the Syrian Democratic Council is attempting to accommodate these views to reach with the community to compromise formulas for the future Syria," Hikmat Habib, a deputy co-chair of the executive body of the SDC told Hawar News on Thursday.
Ethno-religious groups including Kurds, Arabs, Syriacs, Yezidis, Muslims, Christians, and Circassians should be brought into the fold, argued Habib in the outlet close to the political group.
The SDC serves as the political arm of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The SDF was the primary partnered ground force of the US-led international anti-ISIS coalition and has supported the formation of military and civil councils in liberated areas such as Raqqa, Tabqa, and Manbij.
The report notes the SDC has tried to expand its presence in Tirbe Spiye, Tel Hamis, Tel Kocher, Girge Lege, and Derik city.
Habib said they are intensifying meetings with tribal leaders, intellectuals, and people opposed to the Syrian regime, noting a "Clans' Forum" held on Monday in Ayn Issa.
The SDC is part of the umbrella of parties that form TEV-DEM, the ruling authority in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES), also called Rojava by Kurds.
Following the meetings in Syria, Habib said the SDC plans to hold conferences with other pro-opposition elements abroad as well.
Through the Syrian conflict, the SDC and SDF have opposed the rule of the Baathist regime of Bashar al-Assad. However, they have largely avoided all-out warfare with the Damascus-backed forces, unlike pro-opposition groups to the west in Aleppo and Hama governorates.
The commander-in-chief of the SDF, Mazlum Kobane, revealed on Saturday that the SDF will soon undergo a major restructuring.
The SDF/SDC is seen as having few options but those which ultimately lead to negotiations with Damascus as neither the United States, nor Russia is willing to back to anti-ISIS group if Syrian political talks.
“The defeat of ISIS as a state is something we all as members of a global organization should be proud of,” US Special Presidential Envoy to the anti-ISIS coalition James Jeffrey said at the Middle East Institute, a Washington D.C. think-tank, on Tuesday.
“In Syria, we’re remaining with our partners in the fight against the Daesh forces and that’s the SDF for the moment,” said Jeffrey, noting that they are continuing to work with the military as US President Donald Trump has announced a coordinated and deliberate troop withdrawal.
“Security and stability” are Washington’s aims, according to Jeffrey, because the rise of ISIS was a “manifestation of various dysfunctions in the Middle East. It’s not just extremist, Sunni, jihadist groups…”
Washington is continuing to monitor the number of attacks in Syria, Jeffrey said, but they are also looking “more at the overall political climate.”
“And that gets to the bigger picture in Syria that appears to be conducive to reconciliation and people continuing on their way without an authoritarian or totalitarian government arbitrarily wreaking violence on its own population; the more you can assume to local security forces will be able to deal with the tendencies of some people that will always be there to turn to radical extremist ideologies,” he said.
He noted that “night raids on farmhouses” and trying to change to the mindset of jihadists are not particularly effective strategies.
“Therefore, the US policy is for on Syria is not simply — although it’s very important in the enduring defeat of ISIS — to help affect a political process under the UN that will give us different governance of Syria…” he said, noting half of all Syrians have been displaced at one point or another through the conflict.
He acknowledged that despite an international mandate, the US wasn’t fighting ISIS in Syria and Iraq with “one eye forward and one eye back,” referring to US fights against previous insurgencies in the Middle East where al-Qaeda was propped up by regional support.
“We can be most proud of the people of Iraq and Syria who were affected by this,” added Jeffrey.
He said he had no specific information on a timeline or US troop numbers in Syria.
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