The joint head of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), Riad Darar, said that the council had held a second meeting in Damascus with officials from the Assad regime, saying that they focused on the concept of “local administration, the possibility of their participation, and the future outlook for the concept of decentralization.”
On Tuesday, Darar told the pro-regime Al-Watan newspaper that delegations from the SDC, which is the political wing of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia, of which the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) are the biggest part, said that “all discussions which are now underway are to learn the other’s view on the issues that can be implemented.”
Darar said that the Assad regime in his opinion started with the subject of local administrative elections “by virtue of the fact that there is a trend toward decentralization and how it can be implemented, and this requires understandings about how this can be implemented in these areas.”
In an indication that there are many issues around which the SDC and the regime had not reached agreement, Darar said: “There are discussions which will require a great deal of attention before decisions are to be taken, and therefore they were left for other meetings.”
The discussions between the SDC and regime have raised questions about American policy in Syria, especially given that Washington is one of the SDF’s biggest backers, as well as the fact that American forces are deployed in SDF-controlled areas.
The Assad regime had previously raised the prospect of using force against the SDF and has called the American forces which support them “occupying forces,” and demanded that they leave Syria.
The SDF controls about 28 percent of the country’s territory, making them the second strongest power on the ground after the Assad regime and Iran-backed militias.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
