{"id":36235,"date":"2019-03-19T10:23:22","date_gmt":"2019-03-19T10:23:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=36235"},"modified":"2019-03-19T10:23:22","modified_gmt":"2019-03-19T10:23:22","slug":"syrian-kurds-accuse-assad-of-policy-of-oppression-and-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=36235","title":{"rendered":"Syrian Kurds accuse Assad of policy of \u2018oppression and violence\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div itemprop=\"articleBody\" data-io-article-url=\"http:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1468961\/middle-east\" readability=\"88\">\n<p>\nOMAR OIL FIELD, Syria: Syria\u2019s Kurds have criticized the \u201cthreatening language\u201d of the Damascus regime after it pledged to retake northeastern areas they control by reconciliation or by force.<\/p>\n<p>\nThe minority have largely stayed out of Syria\u2019s war, instead carving out a de-facto autonomous region across a large swathe of northern and northeastern Syria.<\/p>\n<p>\nThat region is held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces who have been battling the Daesh group with backing from a US-led coalition.<\/p>\n<p>\nSyrian Defense Minister Ali Abdullah Ayoub on Monday said his government would recapture all areas held by the SDF \u201cin one of two ways: a reconciliation agreement or&#8230; by force.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\nIn a statement late Monday, the semi-autonomous administration slammed his comments.<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cThe Syrian defense minister\u2019s statement regarding the SDF&#8230; reflects the continuation of the racist and sterile policy that has led Syria to this disastrous situation,\u201d it said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cThe use of threatening language against the SDF who have liberated and protected the north and east of Syria from terrorists only serves those forces working to divide Syria,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<p>\nUS President Donald Trump\u2019s announcement in December of a pullout of all US forces from Syria shocked the Kurds and sent them grappling to mend fences with Damascus.<\/p>\n<p>\nDialogue between both sides has been ongoing, but has failed to bear fruit.<\/p>\n<p>\nDamascus rejects Kurdish self-rule and wants a return of government institutions to oil-rich SDF-held areas.<\/p>\n<p>\nThe Kurds want protection from a long-threatened Turkish offensive, but seek some form of decentralization from Damascus.<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cThe autonomous administration&#8230; stands by its position of the need for a solution and dialogue within the Syrian framework for all pending issues,\u201d the Kurdish authorities said.<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cBut we want all sides to know that we, while choosing the political solution, we will spare no effort in the legitimate defense of our rights if necessary,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\nEight years into a war that has killed more than 370,000 people, the Damascus regime controls almost two-thirds of the country after a series of victories against rebels and jihadists.<\/p>\n<p>\nBut the SDF-held region, a northwestern jihadist bastion and border areas held by Turkey\u2019s Syrian proxies remain beyond its control.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>OMAR OIL FIELD, Syria: Syria\u2019s Kurds have criticized the \u201cthreatening language\u201d of the Damascus regime after it pledged to retake northeastern areas they control by reconciliation or by force. The minority have largely stayed out of Syria\u2019s war, instead carving out a de-facto autonomous region across a large swathe of northern and northeastern Syria. That&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36235\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}