Senior Kurdish official said the forces in northern parts of Syria may hold talks with the government following an announcement made by Washington over withdrawal of its forces from the Arab country and looming invasion to be launched by Turkey.
Syrian Kurds eye talks with Damascus as US announces withdrawal
9 Oct 2019 - 10:18
Senior Kurdish official said the forces in northern parts of Syria may hold talks with the government following an announcement made by Washington over withdrawal of its forces from the Arab country and looming invasion to be launched by Turkey.
“If America vacates the area and especially the border area for certain we, as a self administration and as the SDF, will be forced to study all the available options,” Badran Jia Kurd told Reuters news agency on Tuesday.
“At that time we may hold talks with Damascus or the Russian side to fill the void or block the Turkish attack, so this may develop and there could be meetings and contacts in case of a vacuum,” he added.
A senior Syrian government official, in return, said Damascus is ready to welcome Syria's Kurds back into the fold after Washington left them to face Turkish military threats alone.
“We will defend all Syrian territory, and we will not accept any occupation of Syrian land,” Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad tole the pro-government and Arabic-language al-Watan newspaper in comments published on Tuesday.
He noted that Kurdish groups have been “tossed aside” by Washington, after US President Donald Trump on Monday gave Turkey a green light to press ahead with its long-threatened offensive.
“The nation welcomes all its children and Damascus will solve all problems in Syria in a positive manner, away from violence,” Mekdad said, vowing to take back all Syrian territory.
“We advise those who have gone astray to return to the nation, because the nation is their final destiny,” he added, urging Syria's Kurds to reconcile with the Damascus government.
Mekdad underlined that Kurdish militants in Syria were being “played” by Washington.
Separately, the spokesman for the Kurdish-led militants from the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Monday that a Turkish invasion into northeastern Syria would provide “direct support” to the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.
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