Syrian Democratic Council delegation continues meetings with prominent US Congress members

WASHINGTON – The delegation of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) continues its meetings with US representatives to discuss stability and a political solution for Syria and the fight against terrorism. The SDC delegation met with Senator Christopher Van Hollen who is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Congresswoman Lois Frankel who is a member of the Budget Specialization Committee, and Congressman Adam Smith, Chairman of the Armed Services Committee in the House of Representatives.

The SDC delegation is headed by the President of the Executive Committee of the Syrian Democratic Council Elham Ahmed, and includes Syriac, Arab, and Kurdish representatives from the Democratic Autonomous Administration (DAA) of North and East Syria. The delegation includes co-chair of the Executive Council of the Gozarto (Jazira) Region Nazira Goreya (Syriac Union Party), and is accompanied by the Washington co-chair of the US Mission of the Syrian Democratic Council the Syriac Bassam Ishak.

Because there can be no social peace in Syria without a political solution to the Syrian crisis, the SDC delegation stressed in its meetings the importance of a continued American role in finding a comprehensive settlement in accordance with international resolutions, foremost Security Council Resolution 2254.

A political solution for Syria has dragged on for years. Where Syrian regime leader Bashar Assad (an Alawite) made a deal with the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (Partiya Yekîtiya Demokrat, PYD) and its military affiliate YPG on North and East Syria in the early years of the Syrian uprising and subsequent civil war, negotiations between the two sides are on a bumpy road. A final agreement between the Kurdish, Arab, and Syriac peoples united in the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria on their ethnic, political, and cultural constitutional rights has not been reached yet. The DAA has from the beginning been barred from the UN-led talks in Geneva on a new constitution – whose drafting body is likely to reconvene later this month.

The Turkish presence in Idlib and its invasion of the areas of the DAA in North and East Syria – Turkey sees the PYD/YPG as an extension of the PKK which is outlawed in Turkey – have turned the Syrian dossier into a lingering quagmire. The Ba’ath regime is bolstered after it regained large swathes of the country, while Russia, Iran, Turkey, Israel, and the US are all competing for regional power and influence.

The SDC delegation visited Moscow in mid-September for talks with the Russian Foreign Ministry. The latest meetings with members of US Congress in Washington took place after meetings held by the SDC delegation with the US Department of State and White House officials. US officials renewed their support for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and their war against terrorism, stressing the need to support the presence of their country’s forces in Syria and their partnership with the SDF until a sustainable political solution is reached in Syria.

PDAS Joey Hood and DAS Ethan Goldrich met Monday with @ElhamAhmadSDC, President of the SDC Executive Committee, to reaffirm U.S. support for stability in northeast Syria, continued assistance in areas liberated from ISIS, and a political solution that includes all Syrians. pic.twitter.com/1Ubk6VAxHx

— U.S. Embassy Syria (@USEmbassySyria) September 29, 2021