The U.S. and Russia-backed Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) has offered the people of Raqqa the opportunity to join its autonomous federal region in northern Syria once the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) is pushed out of the city.
Saleh Muslim, the co-chair of the PYD party, told Reuters that the residents of Raqqa would be the ones to decide their fate once the city is liberated from ISIS, adding that he believes the city will join the Kurdish autonomous “democratic federal” system.
“We expect [this] because our project is for all Syria… and Raqqa can be part of it,” Muslim told Reuters during a telephone conversation. ”Our only concern is that the people of Raqqa are the ones who take the decision on everything.”
The PYD’s leader Saleh Muslim noted that Raqqa needs to be in “friendly hands” otherwise it would pose a “danger to all Syria,” particularly the region where they have established their self-administered area.
Reuters learned of the PYD proposal, which has drawn ire from U.S. NATO ally Turkey, on Monday.
Turkey considers the PYD and its armed wing, the People’s Protection Units (YPG) an extension of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), a group that has been designated a terrorist organization by both Ankara and Turkey.
However, the United States does not share Turkey’s view that the Syrian Kurds are terrorists. In fact, the U.S. considered the YPG one of the most strong fighters against ISIS.
ISIS is expected to soon lose Raqqa, its de-facto capital in Syria, to U.S. and Russian-backed local forces.
The offensive to retake Raqqa is expected to begin in early April, notes BBC, citing the YPG.
Meanwhile, French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian proclaimed last Friday that the operation would likely start “in the coming days.”
“US officials estimate that there are 3,000 to 4,000 militants in the Raqqa area, alongside hundreds of thousands of civilians,” points out BBC.
The American-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Arab and Kurdish forces led by the YPG, is advancing towards Raqqa.
SDF fighters recently captured the strategically important Tabqa airbase west of the Islamic State (IS) stronghold Raqqa.
“The airbase’s capture is seen as a significant step in the campaign to drive IS militants out of Raqqa,” reports BBC.
“In all the areas under our control, we do not have an airport that can receive planes,” SDF spokesman Talal Silo told Reuters. ”The coalition planes will benefit from the airport.”
The Tabqa operation is intended to encircle Raqqa.
Backed by U.S-led coalition troops, the 50,000-strong SDF, made up of Kurdish, Arab, Turkmen, and Armenian militias, have captured an estimated 2,300 square miles of territory from ISIS in Syria.
Although the majority of the SDF is believed to be Arab, the force is led by the YPG, which recently acknowledged having “direct relations with Russia,” noting the Kremlin is providing them training.
In March 2016, the PYD and YPG declared that they would combine three Kurdish-led autonomous areas in northern Syria into a federal system.
Although the United States supports the Syrian Kurds, the Americans under former President Barack Obama joined Syria and Turkey in expressing dismay towards the effort of dividing the war-devastated country.
It remains unclear whether President Donald Trump’s administration would support an independent Kurdish state.
The creation or recreation of a Kurdish country is fundamental to the stability of the whole area. A piece from each 4 countries (Ir, Iq, Ty & Sy) should be taken to create the future country. The 4 countries hate the Kurds anyhow.
These are the same Turks who made — with Obama’s help — BB apologize for stopping their arms shipment to Hamas terrorists in Gaza and who threatened to break off diplomatic relations with the U.S. or Israel if either recognized the Turkish Muslim genocide against the Armenian Christians one hundred years ago. The Turks are the terrorists.
Should especially matter to us, as the Armenian Genocide was the trial run for the Shoah.
“From Musa Dagh to Masada
How Franz Werfel’s novel about the Armenian Genocide inspired the Warsaw Ghetto fighters and the Zionist resistance”
By Stefan Ihrig
“Even after the war, the book continued to instill a sense of urgency, heroism, and hope. Yossi Harel, the man who, with the ship Exodus, would bring over 20,000 Jewish Holocaust survivors through the British blockade of Palestine after WWII, was also captivated by Werfel’s tale. As his biographer Yoram Kaniuk has put it, “As very young men, Yossi and his friends read The Forty Days of Musa Dagh, a book by Franz Werfel about the Armenian revolt in the mountains of Anatolia. They found in this book a moral code. Hidden within it, the book contained pain and bravery, loyalty and isolation, and it won the hearts of the young Palestine Jews.” Apparently, when he left on his trip to save and bring Holocaust survivors to Palestine, he packed only a few things to eat and “three items for ‘ideological fortification’—a Bible, the poems of Hannah Senesh and Nathan Alterman, and Franz Werfel’s The Forty Days of Musa Dagh.” Sailing along the shore from Palestine, Harel would stand on deck and look out for the peaks of Musa Dagh in the night, while reflecting on his role in the saga of Jewish survival.”
http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/199886/from-musa-dagh-to-masada