Syrian Kurdish official rejects Turkish calls to lay down arms, says SDF seeks integration instead +

A top Syrian Kurdish official has rejected Turkish calls for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to give up their weapons as part of Ankara’s broader peace efforts with Kurdish militants, saying the situation in Syria requires integration, not the laying down of arms.

Ilham Ahmed, co-chair of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (Rojava), told BBC’s Turkish service that the SDF’s continued armed presence is necessary due to ongoing security threats, particularly from Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) remnants and the lack of a permanent Syrian constitution.

Syrian Kurdish official rejects Turkish calls to lay down arms, says SDF seeks integration instead

The U.S. continues to back the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)—a coalition dominated by the YPG, which Turkey sees as indistinguishable from the PKK. Despite the PKK’s recent disarmament announcement, Washington has resuscitated funding and military coordination with the SDF—a coalition whose very name was crafted to obscure its PKK lineage. This comes even as the U.S. consolidates its military presence to a single base in Hasakah, signaling a shift from occupation to strategic entrenchment.

In 2019, as Trump was weighing a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria during his first term, Tulsi Gabbard brought Ilham Ahmed—the then-head of the Syrian Democratic Council, political wing of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces in Rojava—as her guest to Trump’s second State of the Union. The message was clear: autonomy should have air support. Ahmed currently serves as Co-Chair of the Foreign Affairs Department of Rojava, also known as the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.

Related:

Trump should be convinced of US pullout from Syria- but… (Disarmament, dissolution of YPG)

The SDF equals the YPG/PKK/Kurds: A timeline of the PKK’s war on Türkiye

Colonial Project: Inside ‘Israel’s Coalition for Regional Security’ and the Role of Arab Leaders

Twitter

Just hours after the Israeli aggression on Iran ended and Benjamin Netanyahu spoke of “a new Israeli-led Middle East,” a campaign began promoting the so-called “Israeli Coalition for Regional Security,” which reportedly includes 10 Arab leaders, notably from Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Colonial Project: Inside ‘Israel’s Coalition for Regional Security’ and the Role of Arab Leaders

H/T: Rachel Blevins & Sarah Bils

Related:

The Abraham Shield Plan

Over 1,000 Reported Killed, Mostly Civilians, as HTS Syrian Forces Attack Alawites

KernowDamo

The situation in northwestern Syria continues to spiral out of control this weekend, as the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) has been surging forces into the Alawite homelands in the Latakia and Tartus Governorates, clashing with Alawite militias and slaughtering civilians.

Over 1,000 Reported Killed, Mostly Civilians, as HTS Syrian Forces Attack Alawites

Syrian Army informs officers of regime change – Reuters + More

Syrian Army informs officers of regime change – Reuters

Related:

Brian Berletic on the situation in Syria:

What is happening in Syria is a major loss for the Syrian people and their allies, including Russia and Iran and ultimately both China and the rest of the multipolar world. It is a reminder that the US and its proxies remain the greatest threat to human peace and prosperity on planet Earth today – a potent danger that should not be underestimated. Not only has the US maintained a large army of terrorists all along Syria’s borders, it has maintained significant control over global information space poisoning entire regions of the planet against their own best interests. While US industry and military power fades, it has maintained its ability to politically interfere and capture entire populations – not through any particular strength, but from a fundamental lack of action from the rest of the world in recognizing information space as the key to national security in the 21st century. Even today, most of the world has surrendered its information space to Silicon Valley and the US State Department. No matter how many tanks you have, if the US can convince your population not to man them or to point their guns in the opposite direction, you still lose.

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