Damascus arrests civilians from SDF-held areas after reconciliation deals: SOHR
A total of 12 men have been arrested since January after participating in “reconciliation deals” at the Syrian government’s centers in Al-Sabkhah and Maadan, close to Al-Raqqah.
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Syrian government’s security forces have arrested civilians in the countryside of Al-Raqqah despite reconciliation deals being finalized, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reports on Saturday.
The SOHR report said that Syria’s security forces arrested a man from the Al-Busabi tribe, despite having undergone a “reconciliation deal” nearly 15 days ago in the Maadan area in the Al-Raqqah countryside.
Moreover, regime security forces have also arrested two civilians from Maadan city, east of Al-Raqqah, who also struck “reconciliation deals ” in the Al-Sabkha area.
The SOHR report said that a total of 12 men have been arrested since January after having taken part in “reconciliation deals” with the Syrian government at its centers in Al-Sabkhah and Maadan, in the Al-Raqqah countryside.
The report from January shows that the Syrian government is pushing for reconciliation deals with Arab-majority regions currently controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Read More: Syrian government pushing for reconciliation deals with SDF-held regions
Russia said it mediated talks between the Syrian government and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) in the past, but no progress was made.
While the AANES and SDF want Damascus to recognize the autonomous region under SDF control, Damascus still wants to return to the pre-2011 status quo.
As a result, the Syrian government and Russia are approaching Arab tribes in SDF-held northeast Syria to invite them to participate in a reconciliation process. Russia hopes to pressure the SDF and the AANES to hand Arab-majority areas back to Damascus.
Since late March, Syrian government forces have besieged the Kurdish-held neighborhoods of Al-Ashrafiyyah and Sheikh Maqsoud in Aleppo to pressure the AANES to make concessions to Damascus.
Read More: Tensions mount between Syrian Kurds and Damascus
In response, the Kurdish Asayish have besieged government centers in Qamishlo.
In July 2018, there was a reconciliation deal between the Syrian government and various rebels and rebel groups, which resulted in the former retaking control of the southern stronghold of Daraa from the latter.
The SDF has rejected such an approach.
Nevertheless, there is still unrest in Daraa, and assassinations and occasional clashes still take place.
Arab tribes in Raqqa and Tabqa have also reportedly rejected the reconciliation offered by Damascus.
On Jan 11, a seminar was held in the town of Abu Hamam in the countryside of Deir al-Zor on the reconciliation attempts by Damascus.
During the seminar, Syrian opposition activist Dr. Muhammad Khaled Al-Shaker said that the "reconciliations" are just propaganda and an attempt by Damascus to return Syria to its pre-2011 status quo.
