US-backed commander says his Kurdish-led group wants a secular and civil state in post-Assad Syria

The commander of the main U.S.-backed force in Syria said Sunday the recent ouster of the Assad family from power should be followed by building a secular, civil and decentralized state that treats all its citizens equally no matter their religion or ethnicity.

The commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, Mazloum Abdi, said in an interview Sunday that he recently met with Syria’s newly named interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Damascus. He said the two sides are negotiating with the help of mediators to find compromises regarding Syria’s future — including the future of the Kurds.

Abdi added that U.S. troops should stay in Syria because the Islamic State group will benefit from a withdrawal, which would affect the security of the whole region.

A new leader chosen after the fall of Assad

The Assad family’s 54-year rule in Syria came to an end in early December when insurgents led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, captured Damascus. The fall of Bashar Assad on Dec. 8. came after a nearly 14-year conflict that has killed half a million people and displaced half the country’s population.

Syrian factions that toppled Assad met in Damascus last week and named HTS leader al-Sharaa as the country’s interim president. The groups suspended the country’s constitution adopted by Assad in 2012 and officially dissolved the army and Syria’s dreaded security agencies.

“The fall of the regime was a historic step and based on that a new Syria should be built without restoring the Baath party or its ideology,” Abdi said referring to Assad’s once ruling Baath party that was also dissolved last week. “We want to move Syria forward together.”

‘The matter was not discussed with us’

Asked about the meeting in Damascus last week in which al-Sharaa was named interim president while the parliament, constitution and the army were dissolved, Abdi said: “We were not present there and we will not comment.”

“The matter was not discussed with us,” Abdi said adding that there are negotiations between al-Sharaa and the SDF and “our stance will be based on the results of the negotiations.”

Abdi said that visits by SDF officials to Damascus will continue to try to reach an understanding with the new authorities. “We will continuously try to see how Syria of the future will look like,” Abdi said, adding that the vision of the SDF is based on dialogue and understanding.

Abdi revealed that members of the U.S.-led coalition to fight the Islamic State group, including the U.S., Britain and France, are mediating between the SDF and authorities in Damascus. He did not go into details.

Abdi said his group wants Syria to remain a united country with a central government in Damascus.

“Our vision of Syria is a decentralized, secular and civil country based on democracy that preserves the rights of all of its components,” he said referring to the country’s different religious groups, such as Sunni Muslims, Christians, Alawites, Druze and Yazidis and ethnic groups such as Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen and Armenians.

“Syria is mixed and is not made up of Sunnis only. There are other identities,” Abdi said referring to the country’s Sunni Muslims who are the majority in the country. There have been concerns that HTS, which is rooted in the Salafi-jihadi ideology, might be working on turning Syria into an Islamic state, although in recent years al-Sharaa has distanced himself from the group’s earlier stances and preached religious coexistence.

Kurds want a decentralized state but not autonomy

Abdi said the Kurds of Syria do not want to break away from the country or set up their own autonomous government and parliament as is the case in northern Iraq. He said the people of northeast Syria want to run their local affairs in a decentralized state.

“Syria is not Iraq and Iraq is not Syria and northeast Syria is not (Iraq’s) Kurdistan,” Abdi, whose forces control 25% of Syria, said.

Most of the country’s former insurgent factions have agreed to dissolve and to become part of the new army and security services, although it remained unclear exactly how that will work in practice. The SDF has not so far agreed to dissolve.

Asked whether he is ready to dissolve the SDF, Abdi said that in principle they want to be part of the defense ministry and part of Syria’s defense strategy. He said the details still need to be discussed and they have sent a proposal regarding this issue to Damascus and “we are waiting for the response.”

He said the SDF fighters have been fighting IS for 12 years and the rights of his fighters should be guaranteed.

US troops should stay in Syria

Speaking about IS, which his group played a major role in defeating, Abdi said that the extremists took advantage after the fall of Assad and captured large amounts of weapons from posts abandoned by Assad’s forces.

Abdi said U.S. troops should stay in Syria because they are needed in the fight against IS.

In 2019, President Donald Trump decided on a partial withdrawal of U.S. troops form the northeast before he halted the plans. “The reason for them (U.S. troops) to stay is still present because Daesh is still strong,” Abdi said, using an Arabic acronym to refer to IS.

“We hope that the coalition does not withdraw,” Abdi said, adding that they are not aware of any U.S. plans to withdraw from Syria. “We ask them to stay.”