The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led militia in northern Syria that played a key role in overthrowing the Islamic State caliphate, sent a delegation to Sunni jihadists in Hayat Tahrir al-Hayat on Thursday. announced that they are preparing to do so. Siam (HTS), the group currently in charge of the country.
HTS is an al-Qaeda offshoot run by Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, who once worked under ISIS's “caliph” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The group is a US-designated foreign terrorist organization, and the Washington government is currently offering $10 million for information leading to Jolani's arrest. On Saturday, HTS fighters marched into Damascus, prompting longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad to flee the country and making HTS the de facto Syrian government. The Kremlin eventually confirmed that Assad had landed in Russia, and President Vladimir Putin, his strongman and longtime patron, granted him political asylum.
Operation HTS, which began with the capture of Aleppo from Assad's forces in November, ended more than a decade of civil war that at one point involved as many as 10 different fighting forces and state actors. However, this did not end the conflict in northern Syria, far from the HTS region, as the SDF became the target of operations by the Turkish-backed Sunni Islamic militia Syrian National Army (SNA). The SNA launched its Dawn of Freedom plan to eradicate the indigenous Kurdish presence in northern Syria shortly after HTS captured Aleppo, and is thought to have displaced as many as 120,000 people in the last month.
In the face of this attack, and the relative silence of Washington's purported allies, SDF leadership announced Thursday that it would contact HTS. SDF commander Mazloum Abdi last week clarified that there was no conflict with HTS and that no fighting had taken place between his militia and the victorious jihadists.
“At the beginning of the incident, HTS told us that our territory was not their target,” Abdi said. said He spoke in an interview with Kurdish broadcaster Ronahi TV on Thursday. Ludo. “We have an agreement with HTS regarding Aleppo and Deir Ezzor.”
Abdi said political organizers affiliated with the SDF were preparing a “delegation to Damascus” to maintain open contact with the HTS. HTS has since appointed Mohammad al-Bashir as the “prime minister” of the “transition” from the Assad regime, promising to build an “inclusive” government through Jolani himself. claimed that The new government would be Islamist, and those concerned about such a development, such as persecuted Christians, were simply ignorant of the positive attributes of political Islam. of majority Although not ethnically Arab, a large proportion of Syrian Kurds are Sunni Muslims, which may explain the HTS's assurances that it would not target “minorities.”
In addition to planning talks with the HTS, the Kurds of Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava) raised On Thursday, the flag of the Syrian opposition was raised on its territory in a sign of peace with the new government.
Kurdish political leaders said in an official statement: “On the occasion of the victory of the will of the Syrian people and the overthrow of the repressive regime, the Democratic People's Council has decided to raise the flag of independence.” During the civil war, there were few clashes as the SDF and Assad's regime were focused on fighting other factions, but some Kurdish observers celebrated the “collapse of the civil war.”Syrian Arab Republic'' and hoped to be replaced by a state that included Kurds.
Efforts to build trust between the SDF and HTS are underway, but SDF commander Abdi said on Wednesday that as a result of Turkish proxy attacks, the SDF's joint operations with the US to contain Islamic State elements in the country are currently underway. warned that it has not been done.
“ISIS is currently gaining strength in the Syrian desert. Previously, they were in remote areas and hiding, but now they are not facing any problems with other groups and are not involved in the conflict. Because they don't do that, they can move more freely,” Abdi said. interview This was reported by the British broadcaster Sky News. “Their activities have also increased in areas under our control. Just a few days ago, three members of the internal security forces were killed in an ISIS operation near al-Hasakah.”
Abdi also said that the security of prisons housing ISIS terrorists in the region, which are currently controlled by the SDF, is at risk, adding: “Frankly, there is currently no security in these camps. “There is a serious threat.”
The Turkish-backed Dawn of Freedom movement carried out large-scale attacks against the SDF across regions in the north. In the city of Shahaba, local authorities report tens of thousands of Kurdish civilians have been forced from their homes, straining an already impoverished community in some war-torn areas of northern Syria. . Sheikmus Ahmed, a local Kurdish official, told Rudaw that at least 120,000 people have evacuated the city, but the number is likely much higher as “many are not registered”. .
HTS and SNA have traditionally competed for resources as fellow Sunni Arab jihadist organizations, but have been unable to develop significant positive relationships. At the time of writing, there are no reports indicating that the two countries are in a state of conflict, but some observers believe that HTS is asserting control of the SNA region, bringing it back under Syrian control and preventing Turkish influence from expanding. I predict that it will move in that direction.
