WASHINGTON DC - United States lawmakers have expressed concern through Rudaw over violence against Kurds in Syria’s Aleppo, urging that any engagement between Washington and Damascus be contingent on its commitment to “guardrails,” particularly safeguarding minority rights.
Deadly clashes erupted in Aleppo’s Kurdish-majority neighborhoods of Ashrafiyeh and Sheikh Maqsood last week, when the Syrian Arab Army and its allied armed groups launched a large-scale operation to take control of areas that had been secured for nearly 15 years by the Kurdish Internal Security Forces (Asayish).
The violence killed at least 82 people, including 43 civilians, according to a Sunday report by the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), and displaced around 150,000, the Erbil-based Barzani Charity Foundation (BCF) told Rudaw a day earlier.
Of note, the Asayish are an affiliate of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which serves as the de facto military force in northeast Syria (Rojava).
The SDF is also the main on-the-ground partner of the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat the Islamic State (ISIS), playing a central role in the group’s territorial defeat in Syria in 2019.
Democrats' stance
Democratic Congressman Jim Costa told Rudaw on Tuesday, “We have a responsibility, if we are trying to build relations with this new Syrian government, to make it clear that we have a working relationship with the Kurds.”
He added that “the Kurds have had difficulty not only there in Syria, but also with Iraq, and I think it is important that they continue to stay together,” underlining the importance of Kurdish unity.
Costa also expressed concern about minority rights in Syria, urging that the US approach the “new developing government in Syria with guardrails that they have to… focus on if they want to continue to get legitimate support from our government and from the western world.”
Meanwhile, fellow Democrat Adam Smith told Rudaw, “I need more information [on the Aleppo violence]; I have not gotten a full brief on what's happening.” Nonetheless, he emphasized that “the overarching goal is to have a united Syria where everyone has a say in the government, and you don't have warring factions.”
On minority rights, Smith said that such communities “have to be included in the conversation if there is going to be a peaceful and united Syria.”
Republicans' take
Republican Congressman Riley Moore said that while he has not “seen the exact report” on the deadly violence in Aleppo’s Kurdish-majority neighborhoods, he told Rudaw that “as you have characterized it, it is a tragedy.”
Asked about the situation of minority groups in Syria, fellow Republican Congressman Glenn Grothman said, “I am told it is very scary, but I do not have an official briefing.”
Similarly, Republican Congressman Scott Fitzgerald said, “I probably don’t have enough information to comment on the current status of what's going on there [in Aleppo].”
Meanwhile, Republican Congressman Rich McCormick emphasized that safeguarding minority rights in Syria “is not just [a] Kurdish [issue],” but concerns “everybody there.”
An internationally mediated ceasefire took effect in Aleppo’s Kurdish neighborhoods on Sunday, as Syrian state forces and affiliated armed groups assumed control.
Despite the ceasefire, videos circulated online showing Damascus-affiliated militants rounding up, arresting, and verbally abusing Kurdish residents. Social media users have also shared images and videos of relatives reported missing since the outbreak of violence.