By Barış Demir, Ulaş Ateşçi
In the midst of the Alawite massacre in Syria, in which nearly 1,000 civilians were killed, an agreement was reached between the Western-backed Sunni Islamist regime of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), led by the US-backed Kurdish nationalist forces that control the north-east of the country.
The agreement, which provides for the integration of the armed forces of the SDF and the de facto autonomous administration under its control with the Damascus regime, is part of the efforts of US imperialism, together with Israel, to reshape the Middle East under its domination. This includes the ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza and the West Bank, the attack on Lebanon and the preparation for war against Iran.
Since 2011, Sunni Islamist and Kurdish nationalist militias have acted as proxies for US and NATO forces in the war to overthrow of the Russian and Iranian-backed regime of President Bashar al-Assad, and have been glorified internationally by pseudo-left forces as fighters of the “democratic revolution”. This agreement, made in the wake of a massacre of Alawites and other minorities, documents the reactionary, pro-imperialist character of the proxy forces and their defenders.
The agreement, signed by HTS leader Mohammed al-Jolani (Ahmed al-Shara), who has been declared “interim president”, and SDF commander Mazlum Abdi, consists of eight articles. According to the second article, which stipulates a ceasefire in all Syrian territories, “The Kurdish community is an indigenous community in the Syrian state, and the Syrian state guarantees its right to citizenship and all its constitutional rights.”
In return, it will be provided “integrating all civil and military institutions in northeastern Syria into the administration of the Syrian state, including border crossings, the airport, and oil and gas fields.”
It is unclear how the Kurdish forces will be integrated into the Syrian army and what their constitutional protections will be. “The details of the agreement are known only to the team working with Abdi,” said Bessam Ishak, head of the Syrian Democratic Council’s Washington office, claiming that the United States mediated between Abdi and Colani.
In the sixth article of the agreement, to be implemented by the end of the year, the SDF endorses the sectarian HTS regime’s justification for the massacre of Alawites in the north-west of the country. The Syrian state will be supported “in its fight against the remnants of Assad and all threats to its security and unity.”
In fact, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), an organisation opposed to ousted President Bashar al-Assad, has documented the death of 973 civilians in recent days, executed and killed in cold blood.
Cemil Diyarbekirli, director of the Assyrian Monitor For Human Rights, told Rûdaw that the killings of civilians did not target only Alawites and that at least eight Christian civilians were killed. According to the Monitor, 40 mass killings took place in three days.
Mass protests against the massacre of Alawites were organised in the Turkish provinces of Hatay and Adana despite police attempts to prevent them. In Istanbul, a three-day protest ban was imposed in the Şişli district on Sunday to prevent the mass march to the Syrian consulate.
In his article on the massacres of civilians in Syria, the Lebanon-based Al Ahbar writer Mohammad Nureddin stated that the Kurds and Druze are not being targeted by the new regime because they have the support and protection of the US and Israel; however, the Alawites are not in a similar situation and have not formed a special armed force of their own.
According to Nureddin, “the new regime’s bloody attacks on the Alawites are aimed at preventing them from achieving a special status like the Kurds or the Druze. The new regime considers the Alawite region—the only gateway to the Mediterranean for the whole of Syria—to be strategically critical. For this reason, it does not want the Alawite coast to be linked in any way to an autonomous administration. It therefore flatly refuses to recognise any special status for the Alawite mountains and coastal region.”
After the change of regime in December, when Israel dismantled almost all of Syria’s military infrastructure and its army advanced to the outskirts of Damascus, it faced no resistance from the HTS regime, which was embraced by NATO forces, notably Turkey.
On January 6, the Nagel Commission’s report, which was presented to the Israeli government, stated, “Turkey has become the most influential power in Damascus and that the Sunni-Turkish axis has replaced Iran’s Shiite axis.” Israel, which is in competition with Turkey in Syria, has threatened to expand its intervention, claiming to defend the “democratic rights” of Kurds and Alawites as well as Druze.
In early March, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Syria’s new government as “radical” and said, “If the regime harms the Druze, it will be harmed by us.” Defence Minister Israel Katz said on March 1: “We will not allow the extreme Islamic regime in Syria to harm the Druze. If the regime harms the Druze, it will be struck by us.”
Leaders such as Abdi and Muslim of the Kurdish forces, which Israel has declared its “natural ally”, have expressed their openness to support from the Zionist regime.
The agreement between the Damascus regime and the SDF is also linked to Ankara’s negotiations with the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan, to get the PKK to lay down its arms. Öcalan, recognized as a leader by the PYD and the YPG, called on the PKK to lay down its arms and dissolve itself in a letter at the end of February. The PKK accepted this and declared a ceasefire.
Ankara has been advocating that the Syrian Kurdish forces dissolve and subordinate themselves to the new Damascus regime without gaining any legal status, and has been relying on its influence over HTS to achieve this.
In an interview with ANF, Muslim said: “we have not deviated from what was stated in the letter. We have not exceeded the points mentioned by Rêber Apo [Leader Abdullah Öcalan]… Essentially, we accept making peace and being part of this state. Of course, we will take our place in this state while protecting our rights and identity. We have always said this, so we are not excluded.”
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