Analyst: Kurds Left with No Option but Talks with Syrian Gov't

TEHRAN (Defapress)- Nadhal al-Saba'a told the Arabic website of Sputnik news agency that the US agreement with the Turkish government on Manbij, the US ignorance of Turkey's intervention in Afrin and their disappointment at the US position about the Iraqi forces' deployment in Kirkuk after announcement of the results of referendum by Barazani are why the Kurds are now willing to talk with Damascus.

He added that the Kurds' concerns about the dissident forces and extremist terrorist groups like the Al-Nusra Front (also known as Fatah al-Sham Front or the Levant Liberation Board), al-Qaeda and Jeish al-Islam's deployment in Idlib, specially after the battle in Afrin during which many Kurds left the region are among other important reasons for the Kurds to change attitude.

Al-Saba'a said that the Kurdish forces have understood that formation of a Kurdish government in Iraq and Syria is impossible and the experience of the 7-year war in Syria has proved that this idea is not supported by the international circles.

"The US supports the Kurds only when its positions stand against those of Turkey and it backtracked from supporting the Kurds after the first agreement with Erdogan," he added.

Al-Saba'a underscored that the Kurds have no way but returning to Syria's arms and withdrawing from all security, military and political cooperation with the US in Northern Syria, adding that change of power equations in Syria and the results of battles in Eastern Ghouta of Damascus, Douma, Hajar al-Aswad and Yarmouk made the Kurds welcome President Bashar al-Assad's invitation for talks.

Turkey’s defense minister said that Turkish and US soldiers will patrol the key Northern Syrian town of Manbij as part of a deal reached last week for the withdrawal of a Syrian Kurdish militia.

Speaking in Brussels after a NATO summit late Friday, Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli said he met his American counterpart James Mattis. “We had a very detailed, constructive and positive meeting on the Manbij roadmap,” he said.

Turkey has repeatedly called on the US to stop backing the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, which it considers terrorists and an extension of a Kurdish insurgency within its own borders.

But, meantime, the Russia-run Humeimim airbase in Lattakia province announced that the Washington-Ankara agreement on the city of Manbij in Northern Syria is not acceptable.

The Russian airbase announcement came on Wednesday in reaction to an agreement reached between the US and Turkey on a roadmap for Manbij city.

"The agreement on Manbij reached between Turkey and the US is by all means rejected," Russia's Humeimim airbase said.

It reiterated that the agreement has been reached without coordination with the Syrian government and between two countries that are illegally present in Syria; "hence such agreement is void".

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