Russia Presents Roadmap to Mediate Between Damascus, Kurdish Administration

 Russian military police take part in a joint Turkish-Russian army patrol near the town of Darbasiyah in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province, along the Syria-Turkey border, November 11, 2019. (Delil Souleiman/AFP)
Russian military police take part in a joint Turkish-Russian army patrol near the town of Darbasiyah in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province, along the Syria-Turkey border, November 11, 2019. (Delil Souleiman/AFP)
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Russia Presents Roadmap to Mediate Between Damascus, Kurdish Administration

 Russian military police take part in a joint Turkish-Russian army patrol near the town of Darbasiyah in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province, along the Syria-Turkey border, November 11, 2019. (Delil Souleiman/AFP)
Russian military police take part in a joint Turkish-Russian army patrol near the town of Darbasiyah in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province, along the Syria-Turkey border, November 11, 2019. (Delil Souleiman/AFP)

A Russian military delegation held extensive meetings with Kurdish leaderships and leading figures in Qamishli, east Syria, at the end of 2019 to discuss the fate of ongoing negotiations between the Kurdish self-administration and Damascus.

Sources revealed that the delegation carried a 10-point roadmap stipulating that Kurds join the works of the Syrian constitutional committee and to represent the Kurdish political movement in the Syrian government.

Other points focused on the deployment of Syrian guards along the Syrian northern border from the Semalka crossing to the city of Manbij in the countryside of eastern Aleppo.

The Russian delegation also suggested the launch of a dialogue between the Kurdish self-administration in the north and east and the Syrian government.

In addition, the roadmap lists the need to form joint economic and military committees and to issue official papers for Kurds and official certificates for Kurdish students.

Also, the delegation enlisted that the two sides should coordinate to benefit from energy resources, particularly the Euphrates dam in the town of Tabqah, located in the Raqqa province, adding that the Syrian Army must withdraw from schools and universities in Kurdish areas.

The roadmap also suggests opening the road that links the city of Aleppo to the Iraqi border, through the town of Bukamal and to “remove the Kurdish threats and dangers and work on the safety of the Syrian Army checkpoints spread east the Euphrates.”

The sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Russian delegation travelled first to Damascus and held talks with the government on Dec. 25 and 26 before heading to Qamishli on the night of Dec. 26 to meet leading officials from the Syrian Democratic Union Party (PYD).

The sources predicted that the Russian delegation returns to Damascus in the next coming days to present new proposals after listening to the views of all concerned parties.



ISIS Kills Five Kurdish Fighters in Eastern Syria

Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters sit on a vehicle in the north of Raqqa city, Syria. (Reuters file)
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters sit on a vehicle in the north of Raqqa city, Syria. (Reuters file)
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ISIS Kills Five Kurdish Fighters in Eastern Syria

Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters sit on a vehicle in the north of Raqqa city, Syria. (Reuters file)
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters sit on a vehicle in the north of Raqqa city, Syria. (Reuters file)

The ISIS militant group said on Monday it killed five Kurdish fighters in an attack in eastern Syria's Deir Ezzor, according to the group's news agency.

The spokesperson for Syria's Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces Farhad Shami confirmed to Reuters that five members were killed in the attack which he described as "one of deadliest" against the group in a while.

Deir Ezzor city was captured by the ISIS group in 2014, but the Syrian army retook it in 2017.

Former ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a so-called “caliphate” over a quarter of Syria and Iraq in 2014 before he was killed in a raid by US special forces in northwest Syria in 2019 as the group collapsed.

It has been recently trying to stage a comeback in the Middle East, the West and Asia.