If a ceasefire is reached in the conflict with Turkey in northern Syria, Kurdish fighters who came from around the Middle East to support Syrian Kurdish forces will leave, the commander of Syrian Kurdish-led forces told Reuters on Thursday.
The withdrawal of non-Syrian Kurdish fighters is one of the major demands of neighbouring Turkey, which deems Syria’s dominant Kurdish groups a national security threat and is backing a new military campaign against them in the north.
Hostilities have escalated since Bashar al-Assad was toppled less than two weeks ago, with Turkey and Syrian armed groups it backs seizing the city of Manbij from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Dec. 9.
SDF commander Mazloum Abdi’s comments mark the first time he has confirmed that non-Syrian Kurdish fighters, including members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), have come to Syria to support his forces during the Syrian conflict. Turkey, the
United States, and other countries deem the PKK a terrorist group.
Ankara views the main Syrian Kurdish factions as an extension of the PKK. Abdi said that while PKK fighters had come to Syria, the SDF has no organisational ties to the group.
He credited the non-Syrian fighters with helping the U.S.-backed SDF battle Islamic State over the last decade. He said that while some of them had returned home over the years,
others had stayed to help fight Islamic State, and that it would be time for them to go home if a ceasefire was reached.
“There is a different situation in Syria, we are now starting a political stage. Syrians must solve their problems themselves and establish a new administration,” he said.
“Because there are new developments in Syria, it is time for the fighters who helped us in our war to return to their areas with their heads held high,” he said.
The United States, which views the SDF as a key partner in countering Islamic State, has been mediating to stop fighting between Turkey and the Syrian Arab groups it supports, and the SDF.
The U.S. State Department said on Wednesday a ceasefire around Manbij had been extended until the end of the week. But a Turkish defence ministry official on Thursday said there was no talk of a ceasefire deal with the SDF.
Abdi said Turkey and its Syrian allies were preparing to attack the city of Kobani, or Ayn al-Arab, at the border, prompting the SDF to propose a withdrawal of its forces from the
area.
Under the proposal, the area would be left in the hands of an internal security force with U.S. forces present “to supervise this area – provided that there is a complete truce”.
With Reuters inputs
