Kurdish Media Report Deal on Integrated Project for Northern, Eastern Syria

Members of the Syrian National Army during training in the countryside of Aleppo (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Members of the Syrian National Army during training in the countryside of Aleppo (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Kurdish Media Report Deal on Integrated Project for Northern, Eastern Syria

Members of the Syrian National Army during training in the countryside of Aleppo (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Members of the Syrian National Army during training in the countryside of Aleppo (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The US aims to present an "integrated plan" on northern and eastern Syria after it agreed with Türkiye on a specific formula.

The deal was discussed during the meetings of US envoy to eastern Syria Nicholas Granger with various parties in the region, according to Kurdish media.

Over the past two weeks, Granger has held talks with Kurdish, Arab, Syriac, and Assyrian officials in northeastern Syria ahead of an integrated regional project and a conference for those parties.

According to reports, the US envoy has not proposed anything concrete but is discussing general ideas, such as maintaining stability, including everyone in managing the region, and keeping a non-hostile relationship with Türkiye.

Diplomats concerned with the Syrian file continue to meet, especially after the visit of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to Washington.

Observers believe Ankara slowed its attempts towards normalization with the Assad regime after Cavusoglu visited the US, which explicitly rejected the move.

However, Türkiye aspired to press its demands in northern Syria on the US and Russia's pledge to keep the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) away from its borders for a distance of 30 kilometers to establish a safe zone and complete the secured areas to accommodate the Syrian refugees.

Meanwhile, Türkiye announced it would continue to support the efforts of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to ensure accountability for using these weapons in Syria.

On Friday, OPCW issued the third report of its Investigation and Identification Team (IIT), addressing the chlorine gas attack in Douma, Syria, in 2018, which killed 48 persons.

Commenting on the report, the Turkish Foreign Ministry stated that OPCW established a mandate to identify the parties responsible for the chemical weapons in Syria and concluded in its third report that the regime is the perpetrator of the chlorine gas attack.

The regime's responsibility for another chemical weapons attack has been confirmed, said the ministry.

"Türkiye will continue to support the efforts, first and foremost by the UN and OPCW, aiming at ensuring accountability in Syria," it added.

The OPCW said in its report that its team concluded that there were reasonable grounds to believe that the Syrian Arab Air Forces were the perpetrators of the chemical weapons attack on April 7, 2018 in Douma.

The report stated that based on the assessment of the large volume and wide range of evidence gathered and analyzed, the IIT concluded that in 2018, at least one helicopter of the Syrian "Tiger Forces" Elite Unit dropped two yellow cylinders containing toxic chlorine gas on two apartment buildings in a civilian-inhabited area in Douma.



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.