Russia negotiates SDF to cooperate with the Syrian Arab Army and the latter's lefts the siege imposed on the Security Square in Qamishli city
Qamishli, Syria 05-11-2021
The
"Syrian Democratic Forces" (SDF) militia removed the
"Al-Quwatli" and "Al-Shabab City" checkpoints from the
southern side of Qamishli city in the northern countryside of Hasaka, thus
lifting the siege on the security square controlled by the Syrian forces in the
city, which SDF imposed restrictions on entry and exit to it after bloody
confrontations erupted between the Kurdish units and the National Defense on
April 20, in the "Tay neighborhood" and ended with SDF controlling
the neighborhood.
This
comes in conjunction with leaks about an unannounced agreement to jointly
control the areas of northeastern Syria between Russia and the Syrian forces on
the one hand, and "SDF" on the other, in exchange for protecting the
area from Turkish attacks, based on an agreement with Russia signed by SDF in
2019 stipulating that it withdraw 32 km from Turkey’s borders so that Russia
would control the area militarily, while there were reports of Russian-Kurdish
negotiations to integrate Kurdish militias into the Syrian Arab Army, similar
to the experience of merging armed factions in Daraa with the Eighth Brigade of
the Fifth Corps, while SDF will hand over the countryside of Deir ez-Zor to the
Syrian Arab Army, under Russian coordination (Al-Shuhail, Al-Busira, Thiban,
Al-Hawij, Al-Shafa, Al-Susah and Al-Baghouz), in addition to handing over of 75%
of the total oil extracted from the fields under the control of the
"SDF" to the Syrian state, with SDF keeping 25% of it. With full
recognition of the legitimacy of the Syrian state and approval of raising the
flag of the Syrian Arab Republic on official departments.
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| Areas supposed to be delivered to SAA in Deir ez-Zor countryside |
The past few days have witnessed a remarkable rapprochement between the Democratic Union Party - the backbone of the "SDF" - the Syrian government and Russia in conjunction with the rising threat of a Turkish military operation expected in northern Syria, where the prominent leader of the party, Aldar Khalil, confirmed to the party's readiness for dialogue with the Syrian state directly in Damascus, without going to Geneva and other places. Khalil’s statements came days after the statements of the leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, Jamil Bayek, who said that he would work to resolve the differences between the “Autonomous Administration” and the Syrian government, by virtue of the “historical relations” between the two parties. The Syrian newspaper Al-Watan quoted Bayek as saying that "We cannot be anti-regime or against it, and we have previously established our relations on the basis of the general interest of the Kurds and the Kurdish-Arab brotherhood. Now we want to be part of such a relationship."
On the ground, the effects of this rapprochement were evident in the Russian forces and the Syrian Arab Army conducting military exercises in the vicinity of Tal Tamer district in the northern countryside of Hasaka, close to front lines of "Spring of Peace" areas controlled by the Turkish-backed "National Army". Similar exercises were also conducted between the Russian forces and "SDF" in Hasaka countryside, coinciding with the latter’s reinforcing its positions near the "Spring of Peace" area, in addition to the military reinforcements sent by the Syrian Arab Army to several areas located in the countryside of Al-Hasakah and Raqqa governorates.