A spokesman for the Autonomous-Administration of Northeastern Syria (AANES), Luqman Ahmi, denied the existence of any dialogue between the SDF and the Syrian regime at the moment. Simultaneously, he stressed that “autonomous administration is open to dialogue with all parties.”
“The reports of a dialogue with the regime are not true. The AANES has not and will not hand over any of its areas of control to the Syrian regime forces,” Ahmi said, stressing the importance of dialogue “to resolve the Syrian crisis peacefully and democratically and to guarantee the rights of the people in northeastern Syria.”
Talk has escalated over the past few days about Russian mediation between the regime and Autonomous-Administration to confront a possible Turkish military intervention in northern Syria.
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The pro-regime newspaper Al-Watan said that the Russian initiatives are reflected in persuading the leaders of the Kurdish entities in those areas to withdraw their fighters from positions such as Tal Tamr, Ain Issa, and possibly Manbij and Ain al-Arab. This withdrawal comes in exchange for the stationing of the Russian military police in order to stabilize a sustainable truce until the conditions for a peaceful solution are established.
The co-chair of SDF, Riad Darar, had previously revealed to al-Araby al-Jadeed newspaper that Russian mediation was under discussion between SDF and the regime. However, he denied that there were current talks to discuss the Russian proposal.
Darar noted that the mediation put forward was a general mediation, not only related to the military aspect. He noted that the regime should not be expected to abide by any commitments because it had been tested earlier in many circumstances and situations. He suggested that Russian mediation was not applicable given the crippling conditions required by the regime. This mediation is essentially to satisfy the regime and achieve Russia’s interests in the first place.
