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Asked who can be the guarantor of a deal between the Syrian Kurds and the Syrian government, Barzani replied, “Us to a lesser extent, we are ready to step up to the plate. But this role can be played even more effectively by the Russians. It's important for all of us to have a stable neighbor such as Syria, but it's especially important for Russia. They are very clear on this point. Their strategy is geared toward securing a stable Syria. They can be key players in negotiating a settlement between the Kurds and the regime.”
This column wrote in January, picking up this trend we have covered since 2016, “The bumpy and treacherous road to alleviating Turkish concerns over the People's Protection Units (YPG) and the Democratic Union Party (PYD) ultimately goes through Damascus via Moscow.”
Al-Monitor exclusive from Derik prison in Syria
Zaman was the first reporter for a Western media outlet granted access to the Derik Central Prison for Terrorists in northeastern Syria, where 400 Syrian Kurdish guards guard the same number of captured Islamic State fighters.
The fighters housed in Derik come from Canada, Europe, China, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Libya, Russia, Turkey, Morocco and elsewhere.
The conditions at the prison appeared “too good to be true,” Zaman reports. “There are other interrogation centers where IS fighters who either turn themselves in or are captured go through initial screening. It's hard to believe that conditions there are quite as clement, considering the brutality inflicted by IS on the Kurds.”
“The issue of what to do with captured foreign fighters is an increasingly pressing one as Western governments refuse to take their nationals back,” writes Zaman. “The Syrian Kurdish administration says it cannot cope on its own and is demanding that they be either repatriated to be prosecuted in their home countries or tried by an international tribunal in a northeastern Syrian court.”
“A US official speaking on condition of strict anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the issue confirmed that no funds had been given by the United States to the Syrian Kurds to care for the IS captives,” Zaman reports. “The cost of just feeding and clothing inmates at the Derik facility is in excess of $20,000 per month,” the director of the facility told Zaman.
Turkey tries to broker deal among FSA, SNC and HTS
“The National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, commonly known as the Syrian National Coalition (SNC), on March 10 accepted the resignation of Jawad Abu Hatab as prime minister,” reports Khaled Al-Khateb from Aleppo.
“Some have linked Abu Hatab's resignation to the expanding influence and control of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its political arm, the Syrian Government of Salvation, over most of the areas previously administered by the Interim Government in Idlib province,” writes Al-Khateb. “Abu Hatab’s departure follows shortly after HTS in early February took over opposition-controlled areas in Idlib, the neighboring northern countryside of Hama and the western countryside of Aleppo, in the process ousting factions of the National Liberation Front (NLF) of the Free Syrian Army (FSA).”
“An FSA source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that deliberations have been underway in Idlib since the beginning of February between HTS, the FSA and the SNC,” writes Al-Khateb. “’These deliberations aim to merge the Interim Government and the Government of Salvation into one government to manage the affairs of the opposition-held areas in northwestern Syria,’ the source said. Talks also focused on efforts to unite the ranks of armed factions in northern Syria under one structure to be agreed upon. The source added, ‘These are efforts exerted by Turkey to contain HTS and its Government of Salvation. These efforts aim to put an end to HTS peacefully, by pushing it to disband and join the FSA, and to create one civil administration for the opposition-held areas.’”
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