James Jeffrey’s comments to The Defense Post come a day after the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad threatened to remove Kurdish forces from the area.
“The relevant international position which we adhere to is U.N. Resolution 2254, which makes it clear that there should be a nationwide ceasefire and nobody should be trying to obtain further terrain from anybody else, and that definitely includes the Assad regime,” Jeffery told The Defense Post. “So that’s our position.”
The Syrian foreign ministry released a statement on Sunday threatening to launch an offensive against the Kurdish-led but multi-ethnic Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which it claimed are operating as part of the US and Israeli “schemes.”
Damascus has a complicated relationship with the SDF and the People’s Protection Units (YPG) - the Kurdish group that dominates its leadership. The two have both fought each other and worked together throughout the eight-year-long Syrian civil war. Assad supporters frequently smear the SDF and the YPG as working for Israel and the US due to the SDF’s cooperation with US forces in Syrian territory against Assad’s wishes.
In a rare move, the Syrian ministry described the US-backed SDF as a “terrorist” group in the statement, and accused it of working Israel.
“This runs in line with schemes being implemented by some state agents to the USA and plotted by authorities of the Israeli occupation, neglecting UNSC resolutions that stress sovereignty and territorial unity of Syria and [the] unity of its people,” the ministry said.
Such harsh terminology to describe the SDF is uncharacteristic of the Syrian regime, which tends to refer to the Kurdish-led forces as a “militia.”
The SDF responded to the comments later on Sunday, denying the "unfounded accusations" by the Syrian government, claiming that the letter sought to "mislead world public opinion," reported the SDF-affiliated ANHA news outlet.
Jeffery said the US has protected its Kurdish allies from Assad before.
“When the Assad regime forces or the forces of their supporting allies, have tried to penetrate into the northeast, we have taken whatever, all necessary means to ensure that penetration ceases and that will continue,” he said in the interview with The Defense Post.
The YPG has enjoyed fairly good relations with the Assad regime, with exceptions such as during the 2016 battle between the two over the city of Hasakah. The regime still controls small parts of Hasakah and Qamishli, cities which are otherwise controlled by the SDF.
Regime forces did not clash with the YPG during the onset of the Syrian civil war in 2011, relocating its forces to other parts of Syria to fight rebel groups. They also did not frequently clash after ISIS seized large parts of Syrian territory in 2014.
However, now that President Bashar al-Assad’s forces have gained Iran and Russia-aided victories over Turkish-backed and other opposition groups in parts of northwestern Syria, some government officials have hinted before - and reiterated in Sunday’s letter - that they seek full control of the country.
Officials from the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES), where the SDF is the dominant military force, have held some meetings with the regime officials to reach an agreement but they were not fruitful. There is more pressure on NES to reach an agreement with Damascus due to US President Donald Trump’s repeated statements expressing his desire to leave Syria.
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