Syrian Kurdish leader: Anybody who attacks our areas will face same fate as IS

Anybody who tries to attack our liberated areas will suffer the same fate as the so-called Islamic State, a Syrian Kurdish political leader warned on Monday.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Anybody who tries to attack our liberated areas will suffer the same fate as the so-called Islamic State (IS), a Syrian Kurdish political leader said on Monday.

Salih Muslim, a senior member of the ruling council of Syria’s northeast Kurdish areas, made the comments following a statement by Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem who said areas in the country’s north “had to return to Syrian sovereignty.”

“After Idlib, our target is east of the Euphrates,” Muallem said, referring to the territory the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) control.

Responding to the Syrian foreign minister, Muslim tweeted: “Anybody try to attack our liberated areas will face the same fate as DAESH [sic].”

Following a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow in August, Muallem said he is unaware of what rights the Kurds would have in Syria’s new constitution.

Kurdistan 24 correspondent Khoshawi Mohammed asked Muallem whether the Syrian government would consider the rights of the Kurdish people in the country’s new constitution and whether there would be autonomy for the Kurdish people in the north.

“First of all, I’d like to say, I do not directly deal with the issues of formulating the constitution, this is up to the constitutional committee,” Muallem responded.

“I want to emphasize that Kurdish brothers are citizens like everyone else in Syria,” he continued.

“Also, I do not know what rights will be included in the new constitution. I cannot say clearly what kind of government will be established in Syria; this will be decided by the Syrians themselves and the parties involved.”

The Kurds are the largest non-Arab ethnic minority in Syria. The Kurdish population is estimated to be two million, about 10 percent of Syria’s population.

Throughout history, the Syrian government has viewed Kurdish identity as a threat and has suppressed the group’s political and cultural rights.

With Washington’s support, the Kurds control large swaths of territory in northern Syria which they liberated following IS’ occupation of most of the region and surrounding areas in 2014.