The US-backed Kurdish-dominated SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) has said on Wednesday, it will support the efforts to establish a safe zone along with the northeastern Syrian border.
According to Al-Jazeera news reports, the SDF, led by the Kurdish YPG (People’s Protection Unit) and a coalition of US-backed armed groups, said the safe zone must have “international guarantees … that would prevent foreign intervention”.
In an official statement, the SDF group on Wednesday said: “We will offer all the support and assistance to set up the safe zone that is being discussed, in a way that guarantees the protection of all co-existing sects and ethnicities from annihilation.”
The group has also said it hoped to ensure the stability at the Syrian border region by reaching the agreements signed with Turkey, which has, days earlier, vowed to crush the YPG.
The United States President Donald Trump has, while tweeting, referred the idea about maintaining a safe zone at the Syrian border. Although, did not specifically elaborated the matter.
On Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said on Tuesday, he had a discussion with the US president over a phone call conversation, where both suggested about a safe zone which would set up inside Syria by Turkey along the length of their border.
Erdogan’s comment came a day after his call conversation with Trump in order to ease the tensions after Trump threatened to “devastate” Turkey’s economy if attacked Kurdish militia force in Syria after US troops’ pullout.
A political leader of the Syrian Kurdish alliance Movement for a Democratic Society, Aldar Khalil told AFP news agency: “Other choices are unacceptable as they infringe on the sovereignty of Syria and the sovereignty of our autonomous region.”
Meanwhile, Russia said the Syrian military, only its ally, should patrol war-torn Syria’s north.
On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said: “We are convinced that the best and only solution is the transfer of these territories under the control of the Syrian government, and of Syrian security forces and administrative structures.”
He said Russia is a long-time supporter of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, and the future of the Kurds could be secured under regime control.
“We welcome and support contracts that have now begun between Kurdish representatives and Syrian authorities so they can return to their lives under a single government without outside interference,” Lavrov said.
He said, “The Syrian settlement is progressing, though of course more slowly than we would like,” adding, “The fight against terrorism must be completed. Now the main hotbed of terrorism is Idlib.”