Bassam Ishak talks about the importance of the Syrian Democratic Council’s visit to Washington

WASHINGTON – Following the visit of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) delegation and officials of the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria to Washington, D.C., our news desk interviewed co-chief of the US Mission of the Syrian Democratic Council in Washington Mr. Bassam Said Ishak on the delegation’s visit;

“The visit of the delegation of the Syrian Democratic Council and the Autonomous Administration to Washington differed from previous visits by Council members in that the delegation included for the first time a representative of the Arab component, Mr. Ghassan Yusuf of the City Council of Dayro Zcuro (Deir ez-Zor), in addition to Ms. Nazira Goreya, co-chair of the Executive Council of the Gozarto (Jazira) Region and SDC co-chair Ms. Elham Ahmed, on their first visit to Washington, and there was interest on the side of US officials to listen to their views.”

“This visit was also marked by an unprecedented welcome by officials in the Biden administration. They offered assurances that there would be no US military withdrawal from North and East Syria, as it did from Afghanistan, and spoke at length about the differences between the situation in Afghanistan and Syria.”

“Of course, these assurances are limited to the term in office of President Biden and his administration, but it is an important space for the Autonomous Administration, SDC, and the SDF to work on a political solution for Syria.”

“An important visit that dealt with various topics and included visits to Senators in US Congress, to study centers, and research institutes with important American political figures. There was also a private visit at the White House for the first time with senior policy advisers on Syrian affairs, the State Department and the Department of Defense,” Ishak said.

Bassam Ishak is a Syriac politician, a human rights advocate, former Executive Director of the Syrian Human Rights Organization (2004-2011), and founder and President of the Syrian National Council, a council representing the political opposition to the Assad regime. Bassam Ishak has been serving as the co-chief of the US Mission of the Syrian Democratic Council since 2018.