Syria’s government has struck an agreement with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that control the northeast of the country to integrate the group into the national army in the push for a nationwide ceasefire.
The deal could give impetus to attempts to persuade Turkey that the SDF can no longer be equated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Ankara views as “terrorist”, and that the Kurds in northeastern Syria should be left in peace to form some level of part-autonomy under ultimate Syrian government control. The development dovetails with the immediate ceasefire with Turkey that the Iraq-headquartered PKK declared on March 1 as well as, to some extent, with the Turkish government demand that not only the PKK, but the SDF also lay down their arms.
The Kurdish-led authority gained autonomy over the region in 2012 during the early chapters of the multi-sided war that was fought in Syria until the Assad regime collapsed three months ago. The SDF is the military wing of the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES), sometimes called Rojava.
The deal is to be carried out by year’s end. All public institutions in the northeast, including borders, airports and oilfields, are to come under the control of the new Syrian government that has taken shape in Damascus.
The deal will recognise Kurdish rights. They were long refused under the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad. It prohibited the use of the Kurdish language in schools and banned Kurdish holidays. The announcement of the agreement brought cheering crowds to the street in Raqqa, northeast Syria, and in Damascus, news agencies reported.
Soon after coming to power, Syria’s transitional president, Ahmed al-Sharaa—whose Turkey-endorsed jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) spearheaded the militias that conducted the military offensive that caused Assad to flee to Russia in December—engaged the SDF in talks to consolidate full Syrian government control over the country.
Back on December 19, the commander of the SDF, Mazloum Abdi, said that Kurdish fighters who came to Syria from around the Middle East to fight for his militia alongside Syrian Kurdish fighters would leave if Turkey agreed a total ceasefire on clashes taking place in northern Syria.
"There is a different situation in Syria [following the fall of the Assad regime two weeks ago], we are now starting a political stage. Syrians must solve their problems themselves and establish a new administration," Abdi told Reuters.
He added: "We are now preparing, after a total ceasefire between us and the Turkish forces and their affiliated factions, to join this stage.
"Because there are new developments in Syria, it is time for the fighters who helped us in our war to return to their areas with their heads held high."
The SDF is mainly made up of fighters from the Kurdish YPG militia, which Turkey also does not distinguish from the insurgent PKK.
The SDF served as the main fighting force in an alliance with Washington formed to bring down the the self-declared Syrian and Iraqi caliphate of Islamic State, which was defeated six years ago. The SDF and the US say there is still work to do in stamping out remnants of Islamic State and ensuring it is not resurgent in the new Syria.
Damascus (AFP) – The Syrian presidency announced on Monday an agreement with the head of the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to integrate the institutions of the autonomous Kurdish administration in the northeast into the national government.
FRANCE24/AFP
Issued on: 11/03/2025
Syria's new authorities under interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa have sought to disband armed groups and establish government control over the entirety of the country since ousting long-time leader Bashar al-Assad in December after more than 13 years of civil war.
The new accord, which is expected to be implemented by the end of the year, comes after days of violence in the heartland of Syria's Alawite minority that has posed the most serious threat yet to the country's stability since Assad's fall.
The presidency published a statement on Monday signed by both parties laying out the agreement on "the integration of all the civilian and military institutions of the northeast of Syria within the administration of the Syrian state, including border posts, the airport, and the oil and gas fields".
State media released a photo of Sharaa shaking hands with SDF leader Mazloum Abdi following the signing of the agreement.
The statement said "the Kurdish community is an essential component of the Syrian state", which "guarantees its right to citizenship and all of its constitutional rights".
It also rejected "calls for division, hate speech and attempts to sow discord" between different segments of Syrian society.
Abdi said Tuesday that the accord was a "real opportunity to build a new Syria".
"We are committed to building a better future that guarantees the rights of all Syrians and fulfills their aspirations for peace and dignity," the SDF leader said on X.
'Supporting the state'
The SDF serves as the de facto army of the de facto autonomous Kurdish administration that controls large swathes of northern and eastern Syria, including most of the country's oil and gas fields, which may prove a crucial resource for the new authorities as they seek to rebuild the country.
The new agreement also references "supporting the Syrian state in its fight against Assad's remnants and all threats to (the country's) security and unity".
Syria's new authorities announced on Monday the end of an operation against loyalists of Assad that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said had killed at least 1,068 civilians, most of them members of the Alawite minority who were executed by the security forces or allied groups.
The violence in the coastal heartland of the Alawite community, to which Assad belongs, broke out last week after gunmen loyal to the deposed president attacked Syria's new security forces.
The fighting has also killed 231 security personnel and 250 pro-Assad fighters, according to the Britain-based Observatory.
Marginalised and repressed
Marginalised and repressed during decades of Assad family rule, the Kurds were deprived of the right to speak their language and celebrate their holidays and, in many cases, of Syrian nationality.
The SDF took advantage of the withdrawal of government forces during the civil war which broke out in 2011 to establish de facto autonomy in the north and northeast.
The US-backed SDF played a key role in the fight against the Islamic State group, which was defeated in its last territorial stronghold in 2019.
Since Assad's overthrow, the Kurds have shown a degree of willingness to engage with the new authorities, but they were excluded from a recent national dialogue conference over their refusal to disarm.
The agreement comes nearly two weeks after a historic call by jailed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) founder Abdullah Ocalan for the militant group to lay down its weapons and disband.
The SDF maintains it is independent from the PKK, which has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish government.
It is dominated, however, by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara views as an offshoot of the PKK.
The Turkish government, which is close to Syria's new authorities, has designated the PKK a terrorist organisation, as have the United States and the European Union.
The Turkish army, which has troops deployed in northern Syria, regularly carries out strikes on areas controlled by Kurdish forces, and Turkish-backed groups have been attacking SDF-held areas of northern Syria since November.
© 2025 AFP
Beirut (Lebanon) (AFP) – Members of Syria's small Christian community on the coast are living in fear after attacks killed more than 1,000 mostly Alawite civilians, with Christians reportedly caught up in the violence.
Issued on: 10/03/2025
"The current conflict in Syria does not concern me, but we are its victims," said Ruwayda, a 36-year-old Christian from the port city of Latakia.
"There's a feeling that no one is protecting us," she told AFP.
"I feel a mix of both fear and anticipation for what lies ahead in Syria, but I feel certain that migration is the only option," she added.
The wave of violence -- the worst since former president Bashar al-Assad was toppled in December -- erupted in Syria's Alawite heartland on the coast on Thursday.
It began with clashes between gunmen loyal to Assad and the country's new security forces.
What later transpired has been described as a "massacre" in which members of Assad's Alawite minority were targeted.
War monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported at least 1,068 civilians -- the vast majority Alawites -- killed by security forces and allied groups.
There were reports of Christians being caught in the crosshairs.
In a Damascus sermon on Sunday, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch John X said "many innocent Christians were also killed" alongside Alawites.
Obituaries have been shared on social media for several members of the small Christian community on the coast.
AFP was able to confirm at least seven of these, including for a man and his son an acquaintance said were shot on their way to Latakia.
Another four members of one family were killed in their home in an Alawite-majority neighbourhood of the city, and the father of a priest was killed in Baniyas further south, relatives and their churches said.
'Doors locked'
Social media videos have also spread panic, with one showing a fighter speaking in a non-Syrian Arabic dialect threatening Christians as well as Alawites.
One Christian resident of Latakia, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said he and his neighbours "have been staying at home since the start of the escalation with the doors locked for fear that foreign fighters might enter".
All the Christians who spoke to AFP refused to give their full or real names for safety reasons.
Many of the fighters who have staged the attacks since Thursday were not from Syria, according to various accounts.
Analyst Fabrice Balanche said that before the war began in 2011, Syria had about one million Christians, or about five percent of the population.
He said that number shrank to about 300,000 after the majority fled during the civil war.
Despite efforts by the interim president and government to assuage fears, Syria's various minorities, including Christians, have been gripped by dread since the Sunni authorities seized power in December.
Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa led the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group that spearheaded the offensive that toppled Assad.
HTS was an offshoot of Al-Qaeda in Syria, and remains proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Western governments including the United States.
'Pale with fear'
By Monday, a sense of relative normalcy had returned to Latakia, as security forces erected checkpoints outside Alawite-majority neighbourhoods, an AFP correspondent said.
In Sunni and Christian districts, there was near-normal activity, although they lacked their habitual hustle and bustle.
"We are very anxious. People's faces are pale with fear," said Heba, a Christian teacher who used a pseudonym to protect her identity.
"We don't know what the future will bring," the 40-year-old said.
She noted that while Christians had not been targeted directly as Alawites were, people were killed after being caught in crossfire.
In a joint statement on Saturday, the pastors of churches in Latakia urged residents "not to be carried away by rumours".
The statement sought to send a "message of reassurance" after the pastors met "a delegation from the leadership of the security department".
Sharaa on Sunday vowed to "hold accountable, firmly and without leniency, anyone who was involved in the bloodshed of civilians... or who overstepped the powers of the state".
But residents such as Gabriel, 37, said this failed to allay deep fears.
"I'm not reassured about my future and I don't dare get married and have children in this place," he said.
"A decade ago I had the chance to migrate to Canada, but I gambled that the situation would improve.
"Today I regret not making use of that opportunity."
© 2025 AFP
Issued on: 10/03/2025 - FRANCE24
The worst violence to hit Syria since Bashar al-Assad's ouster poses a major threat to the transition, with mass killings of civilians throwing into doubt the new authorities' ability to govern. FRANCE 24's Mark Owen speaks to Matt
No comments:
Post a Comment