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Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said during an interview with the Iranian al-Alam TV on December 20 that the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) might be “another ISIS”. Mekdad argued that the US-backed force can’t be trusted because of their current policies.
“There is another ISIS, that might be named the SDF, the US is trying to support them against the will of the Syrian people, and they serve the United States and serve the western plans against the people of Syria and the Syrian state” Mekdad said during the interview according to al-Alam.
During the interview, Mekdad called the SDF to change its current policies and warned the Kurdish dominated group that its fate will not be different from the fate of ISIS or al-Qaeda. Th deputy foreign minister also stressed that the Damascus government will consider anyone holding a gun against the Syrian state as a “terrorist”.
“They [the SDF] should withdraw now so they can become an irreplaceable part of the Syrian Arab Republic, or their fate will be the same as the fate of ISIS, al-Nusra Front and the armed terrorist groups … who hold a weapon against the Syrian state is a terrorist, that’s how we think, this is the international humanitarian law and this is the international law,” said Mekdad.
The Mekdad statement came only two days after Syria President Bashar al-Assad described members of the US-backed force in eastern Syria as “traitors” during a meeting with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.
This proves that the Damascus government is adopting a new much more hostile policy towards the SDF. However, it’s very unlikely that this tension leads to a military confrontation, as both the US and Russia are not interested in such move according to experts. Despite this, a wide political deal between the Syrian government and the SDF are not likely in the nearest future.
