AIN ISSA, Syria — Kurdish leaders invited Arab tribal heads from across northern and eastern Syria for a clan forum on May 3 to shore up strained relations as the self-administered region faces an existential crisis now that their common enemy of the Islamic State (ISIS) no longer binds them together. Representatives of some 70 Syrian clans and tribes descended on Ain Issa, 50 kilometres north of Raqqa, for a day of talks at the invitation of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), the political wing of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), according to local media outlet ANHA. “Today, the danger of terrorism is still visible to everyone as long as the sleeper cells are present and the cultural structure remains influential in the areas occupied by ISIS. For this reason, we find ourselves, as heads of clans and dignitaries, that it is our duty to support the security forces and the civil administration,” read the final statement issued by the forum. The SDF is an umbrella force led by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). Under its bright yellow flag, Kurds and Arabs received military support from the US-led international coalition and territorially defeated ISIS in northern Syria. In doing so, the SDF assumed control of roughly a third of the country, including the cities of Kobane, Qamishli, and Raqqa, the oil fields of Deir ez-Zor, national infrastructure like Tishreen Dam, and the agricultural lands of Hasakah, and the SDC built a political system based on the ideals of democratic confederalism. With the territorial defeat of ISIS, however, US President Donald Trump has called his troops home. How extensive the American withdrawal will be and when it will happen is still uncertain. But now that future support for the SDF is in question, the Kurd-Arab alliance, which was a narrow and military-focused one to begin with, is at risk, according to Merve Tahiroglu, a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. The Arab tribes “don’t consider the YPG as powerful as it used to be in 2015, 2016 at the height of the fight against ISIS,” she said on Rudaw’s The Washington Perspective programme on May 3. Some tribal leaders boycotted the forum. For those who attended, their prime concerns were lack of security and basic services. "As tribal leaders, we first demand security, then agriculture, and the provision of fuel," one tribal leader told Rudaw in Ain Issa. A couple hundred kilometres away from where the forum was held, Deir ez-Zor province has seen recent demonstrations by angry protesters who accused the Kurdish administration of racism. “SDF prisoners are 100% Arabs,” read one sign carried by protesters. Pro-Hizbollah and pro-regime newspaper al-Quds Arabia reported that there are “constant” protests by Arabs against the Kurdish administration, with demonstrators complaining of violation of their rights, arbitrary arrests, and corruption. Relations between Kurds and Arabs in Syria have long been strained. Fifteen years ago, racial tensions poured over after a football match in Qamishli. At least 30 Kurds were killed. Some Arab leaders have broached talks with the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to reports. “Yes, I am ready to shake Assad’s hand,” Sheikh Humaydi Daham al-Hadi, head of the Shammar tribe, told Al-Monitor in March. The SDC has also opened its own door to negotiations with Damascus, though it has not seen any progress yet. At the Ain Issa forum, Kurdish political and military leaders stressed unity. The blood of the 11,000 SDF fighters – Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen, and others – who died fighting ISIS has mixed together, said Mazlum Kobane, commander-in-chief of the SDF. Their victory over the extremist group would not have been possible without the support of the tribes, he said. Ilham Ahmed, co-chair of the SDC’s executive board, said Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen can now “build a new Syria together.” "We see that there are still forces stalking us and targetting our future as Syrians. They are still working on creating sedition among us as the components of the Syrian people,” Ahmed said. The purpose of the forum is to “redraw our future anew and determine our course," she said, stressing that it is the people of Syria who must determine their future, not foreign states. With the US pulling out, Turkey is hoping to increase its influence over the Kurdish areas of northern Syria. Ankara considers the YPG a branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and has threatened a military offensive against the Kurdish force. Washington is trying to broker a truce, via the idea of a safe zone. The safe zone first proposed by Turkey was pitched as a 32-kilometre-deep stretch along the length of the border, kicking the YPG out and giving Ankara an oversight role. The Kurds have rejected any Turkish involvement. With the territorial defeat of ISIS and elections over in Turkey, negotiations about the proposed safe zone are heating up. James Jeffrey, Washington’s envoy for Syria, met with Turkish presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin in Ankara on May 2. Turkish media reported that the talks were positive. “We have not agreed on everything, but we are making progress,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on May 2, Hurriyet Daily News reported. As the regime of Assad escalates its attacks on the last rebel-controlled region in Idlib with an eye to regaining control of the whole country, Kurdish leaders of the self-administered region in the north and east are hoping to keep a strong, united front with their Arab partners. “It is prohibited for one Syrian to shed the blood of another. Our hands are stretched out for peace and our guns are aimed only at those who threaten our security, our peace, our common life and the brotherhood of the Syrian societal formations,” read the final statement from the Ain Issa forum. With reporting by Viviyan Fetah in Ain Issa and Roj Eli Zalla in Washington
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