New administration formed for northeastern Syria

The new administration will be based in Ain Issa and will be a coordination body linking the self-administrations of the Kurdish majority areas that have their own civil councils.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A new administration was created for northeastern Syria during a meeting for the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) in Ain Issa on Thursday.

In the meeting, Siham Qeyro, a Syriac politician, and Farid Ati, a lawyer from Kobani, were elected as the co-chairs of the General Council of the Self Administration in Northern and Eastern Syria.

The new administration will be based in Ain Issa. It will be a coordination body linking the self-administrations of the Kurdish majority areas and the civil administrations in Arab majority areas that have their own civil councils. 

The new administration links the self-administrations in the Euphrates, Afrin, and Jazeera region with the civil councils in Raqqa, Manbij, Tabqa, and Deir al-Zor.

These areas will continue to have their semi-independent administrations, while the new administration will coordinate between the joint bodies.

On March 17, 2016, Syria’s Kurdish-controlled northern regions voted to declare a federal system in a Kurdish-led conference in the town of Rmeilan.

The Democratic Federation of Northern Syria (DFNS) includes three self-governing regions, that were formerly known as cantons, including the Afrin Region (now occupied by Turkey), the Euphrates Region, and the Jazira Region ratified in July 2017.

Deir al-Zor and Raqqa that the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) liberated last year were not included in this system, but will now become part of this new administration.

“After the preparatory committee of establishing a self-administration of north and eastern Syria has done its job, this administration with the support of all self-administrations, civil, and national forces has been established,” Qeyro said in a statement.

The council is due to issue a final statement within the next few hours, the local Hawar News Agency (ANHA) reported.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany