US Stresses Continued Support for Kurdish SDF

The SDF delegation at the White House. (Syrian Democratic Forces official website)
The SDF delegation at the White House. (Syrian Democratic Forces official website)
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US Stresses Continued Support for Kurdish SDF

The SDF delegation at the White House. (Syrian Democratic Forces official website)
The SDF delegation at the White House. (Syrian Democratic Forces official website)

US President Joe Biden’s administration is committed to its partnership with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), officials told a Kurdish delegation visiting Washington.

The US is keen to support regional stability and its forces will remain in the region until the total elimination of ISIS and its remnants, the White House officials added.

The SDF delegation met with high-ranking representatives of the US administration in the White House, a statement read.

The US officials expressed support for the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) and SDF in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria’s areas, where the SDF represents a broad political alliance at the Syrian level, the statement added.

They hailed the SDF’s counterterrorism efforts and discussed means of reaching a political solution to the more than decade long crisis in Syria.

The delegation met with prominent members of the US Congress, such as congressman Brad Schneider, who is a member of the House Committee on Ways and Means and House Committee on Foreign Affairs, as well as the Subcommittee on the Middle East, North Africa and Global Counterterrorism.

Meanwhile, the General Secretariat of the Kurdish National Council said the peaceful protests that were organized on Friday in Qamishli, in the far northeast of Syria, were attacked by the Autonomous Administration’s internal security forces.

It issued a statement denouncing the practices that limit people’s freedoms and prevent them from expressing their opinions on matters related to their livelihood.

The opposition alliance, which includes Kurdish parties, political entities and civil and social figures, accused the Autonomous Administration of forcibly dispersing protesters, arresting one of them and beating civilians who refused to end the rally.

The Kurdish Council had called on its supporters and residents in northeastern Syria to demonstrate peacefully against the Autonomous Administration’s recent decision to raise the prices of basic commodities.



Hezbollah: Any Truce Must Swiftly End Fighting, Preserve Lebanese Sovereignty

A Lebanese army inspection team checks destruction at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike that targeted one of their positions in the southern Lebanese coastal town of Sarafand on November 20, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
A Lebanese army inspection team checks destruction at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike that targeted one of their positions in the southern Lebanese coastal town of Sarafand on November 20, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
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Hezbollah: Any Truce Must Swiftly End Fighting, Preserve Lebanese Sovereignty

A Lebanese army inspection team checks destruction at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike that targeted one of their positions in the southern Lebanese coastal town of Sarafand on November 20, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
A Lebanese army inspection team checks destruction at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike that targeted one of their positions in the southern Lebanese coastal town of Sarafand on November 20, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)

A Hezbollah official said on Wednesday that any US-brokered ceasefire deal between the group and Israel must end fighting swiftly and must preserve Lebanon's sovereignty, an apparent reference to Israel's stance that it will keep striking the Iran-backed group even with a truce in place.

Speaking to Hezbollah media, Mahmoud Qmati said that he was neither overly optimistic nor overly pessimistic about the prospects of a truce.

The US proposal could see Israeli ground forces leave Lebanon and Hezbollah militants withdraw away from the Israeli border. More Lebanese army troops and UN peacekeepers would be sent to a buffer zone in southern Lebanon as part of the deal.

But CNN has reported that an Israeli source familiar with the talks cast doubt on the likelihood of an imminent deal, noting that Hezbollah’s refusal to accept Israel’s demand for the right to strike the group in the event of a ceasefire violation could jeopardize the process. Without this clause, the source said, it was uncertain whether Israel’s prime minister could get cabinet approval for the agreement.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel the day after the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 in what it said was solidarity with the Palestinians. Israel launched retaliatory airstrikes, and all-out war erupted in September.

Israeli bombardment has killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon and wounded almost 15,000, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. It also displaced nearly 1.2 million, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population. On the Israeli side, 87 soldiers and 50 civilians have been killed by rockets, drones and missiles, and tens of thousands of Israelis have been evacuated from homes near the border.

Hezbollah said its chief Sheikh Naim Qassem would give a speech Wednesday, a day after cancelling a similar announcement.

A statement from the group announced the speech by Qassem would be "today," without specifying a time.