Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

‘Syrian Coalition’ Demands Listing ‘Kurdish Union’ as Terrorist | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
Select Page
Media ID: 55379706
Caption:

A Syrian looks at the rubble of his destroyed house in Douma, on the eastern outskirts of Damascus in this file photo. AFP


‘Syrian Coalition’ Demands Listing ‘Kurdish Union’ as Terrorist

by | Jul 27, 2017 | Middle East |

‘Syrian Coalition’ Demands Listing ‘Kurdish Union’ as Terrorist

London, Geneva, Moscow- The “Syrian National Coalition” asked on Wednesday that the UN Security Council lists the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (YPD) and its US-backed military wing, the People’s Protection Units (YPG) as terrorist organizations.

“There is a public and official relationship between the regime of (President Bashar) Assad and YPG militias, because Assad forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) which include YPG fighters, already started implementing al-Akirishi agreement signed between the two sides on June 20, 2017 under a Russian sponsorship and which stipulates handing over areas under the SDF control in the countryside of southern and eastern Raqqa to regime forces,” a memorandum sent by the Coalition to the Security Council and the Arab League said.

The coalition also demanded the establishment of a special investigation committee to uncover crimes and violations committed by the YPD and its militias and military wings and to halt the systematic displacement and massacres against Arabs and other Syrian entities in the regions controlled by the YPD and its forces.

The memorandum also included a section where the Coalition asked that the YPD and its militias be listed as terrorists for constituting a branch of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Syria.

Meanwhile, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Britain, France and other nations are demanding the UN Security Council takes action to ensure aid convoys reach millions of needy Syrians, according to a letter seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

But a Russian diplomat told the news agency that the letter was uncalled for and unexpected, and added that the issue should have been raised discreetly via the office of the UN envoy to Syria.

At the battlefield, regime forces continued their airstrikes on Ghouta despite a truce that entered into effect in the area last Friday after Russia announced reaching an agreement on how its police will deploy in checkpoints near the al-Wafideen refugee camp, the crossing point between Ghouta and Damascus, to monitor how the ceasefire will function.

Russia’s defense minister Sergei Shoigu said on Wednesday that four battalions of Russian military police are currently deployed in safe zones in Syria.