Iraq News Now

Syrian Kurds fear return of Assad regime control

Syrian Kurds fear return of Assad regime control
Syrian Kurds fear return of Assad regime control

2019-04-18 00:00:00 - Source: Iraq News

People at the local market in the main Syrian Kurdish city of Qamishlo, Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava), March 28, 2017. Photo: EPA

QAMISHLO. Syrian Kurdistan,— At first glance, it seems as though life has returned to normal in the main Kurdish city of Qamishlo in Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava), in Syria’s northeast. Even though the wind-down of anti-ISIS operations last month and Turkey’s daily threats of invasion have helped dull obvious tensions, fears of future violence have continued to reemerge with every regime statement communicating Damascus’ determination to regain control over all Syrian territory.

Shavan, 56, is a café owner working a few blocks down from pro-regime barracks. He reports on his clients being ridden with anxiety over the East Euphrates region soon descending into chaos.

In a faint whisper as regime tanks and convoys drive by, Shavan told Asharq Al-Awsat: “We need to find a way to avoid more violence in our already war-ravaged country, a military solution will raze everything to the ground.”

Qamishlo is currently being run by the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which have established the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.

“Yes, I worry about the fate of the region. No one knows what’s coming next, and I am frankly afraid for my family and work. The Kurds must unite and determine their own future,” Seiban, one of Shavan’s workers, said.

Sarkhaboun, a 42-year-old local who owns a money exchange and transfer shop, noted that regime official’s renewed aggressive rhetoric has driven residents to switch their savings to foreign currencies.

“Fearing that it will come down to displacement, locals have taken the preemptive measure to switch currencies,” Sarkhaboun explained.

State civil bureaus are still open in Qamishli, as well as its only airport.

Schools, however, are split among those which adopted the Damascus-based regime’s curriculum and others who opted for the SDF’s academic curricula.

Regime forces’ pull-out from a number of areas by the end of 2012 gave Kurds, who make up 15 percent of the population, the opportunity to establish and strengthen their own administrations in the northeastern regions.

As a key power in Syria, the Kurdish-led SDF was partnered with the US-led international coalition in the fight against the ISIS terror group.

The SDF and the regime, headed by Bashar Assad, have been held last year a series of meetings to shape the future of territories under Kurdish autonomous rule. Should a SDF-regime arrangement fall into place it would mean the reunification of the two largest areas in a war-torn country. However, two other swathes of land in the north and west will remain under the control of the opposition and Turkey-backed extremist opposition factions.

A top Syrian Kurdish official said last week efforts to forge a political deal between Kurdish-led authorities in Syrian Kurdistan, and the Syrian government are at a standstill and President Bashar-al Assad’s ally Russia is to blame,

U.S. has for years supported the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria, as part of an international anti-jihadist coalition dominated by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). But U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly announced the pullout from Syria.

The Kurdish PYD and its powerful military wing YPG/YPJ considered the most effective fighting force against IS. The YPG, which make up the backbone of the SDF forces, has seized swathes of Syria from Islamic State.

In 2013, the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party PYD — the political branch of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) — has established three autonomous Cantons of Jazeera, Kobani and Afrin and a Kurdish government across Syrian Kurdistan in 2013. On March 17, 2016, Kurdish authorities announced the creation of a “federal region” made up of those semi-autonomous regions in Syrian Kurdistan.

Damascus opposes the level of autonomy they seek. The Syrian defense minister in March said the state would take back the Kurdish led-region by force if its leaders did not submit to the return of state authority.

In February 2019, Bouthaina Shaaban, a senior adviser to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad flatly rejected the idea of giving Syrian Kurds a measure of autonomy, saying such a move would open the door to the partition of the country.

Copyright © 2019, respective author or news agency, Ekurd.net | aawsat.com

Comments

Comments





Sponsored Links