Kurdish Leader Says Agreement With Government Will End Siege

An economic agreement between government-held areas in northwestern Syria and Kurdish territory in the northeast is a breakthrough and will end the siege, Kurdish authorities said.

“The opening of a corridor between us and Aleppo will have a great positive impact,” Abdul Karim Saroukhan, the head of the Kurdish-led administration in the northeast, told Reuters. “It is like an artery that will feed part of the Syrian body.”

Saroukhan also warned that Turkey and the Syrian rebels it supports risk starting a new war in northern Syria, where Ankara has said it will target Manbij, which is controlled by Kurdish-affiliated forces.

An alliance of United States-backed Kurdish and Arab forces known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) pushed the so-called Islamic State out of Manbij in August. Turkey launched its campaign in Syria soon afterwards, targeting both ISIS and the Kurds.

An official in the Manbij Military Council, part of the SDF, told Reuters it will hand over control of several villages in northern Syria to the Syrian government via Russian agreement. The villages are located on a front line where the SDF has been fighting Turkish-backed rebels since Wednesday.

Ankara denied the report, but Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusolgu confirmed there was a Russian agreement that Syrian rebel and opposition forces should not clash in the area surrounding Manbij. Kurdish forces and the Syrian government have largely avoided direct confrontation in the six-year conflict, despite pre-existing animosity.

Government Regains Control of City It Lost Twice in One Year

The Syrian government said it had regained control of the ancient city of Palmyra on Thursday after losing it to ISIS twice in one year, Reuters reported.

“With backing from the Syrian and Russian air forces, units of our armed forces recaptured the city of Palmyra, in cooperation with the allies,” the Syrian military said in a statement.

The government pushed ISIS out of Palmyra last March, but the militants took control again in December.

ISIS quit the eastern city on Thursday as government and Iranian-backed militias advanced, according to the United Kingdom-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Damascus, Moscow, Accuse Opposition of Trying to Sabotage Talks

The opposition is trying to wreck peace talks in Geneva, the Syrian government and Russia said on Thursday, Reuters reported.

“The Riyadh opposition will be held responsible for any failure of the Geneva talks,” said lead government negotiator Bashar al-Jaafari, accusing members of the main opposition group, the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), of committing “high treason” by taking support from Saudi Arabia.

On Wednesday, the opposition leadership met Russian deputy foreign minister Gennady Gatilov. Moscow is a key ally of the Syrian government and the main broker behind the talks.

“The talks are once again raising questions about the ability of representatives of the Syrian opposition to do a deal,” said Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

RECOMMENDED READS:

• Reuters: Turkey, U.S. on Collision Course Over Kurdish Role in Battle for Syria’s Raqqa
• The Guardian: Mr. Gay Syria: ‘A Beauty Contest in This Crisis? It’s a Way of Surviving’
• The New York Times: Senior Al-Qaida Leader Is Killed in Drone Strike
• Syria Direct: After Reconciliation With Regime, Wadi Barada Residents Frustrated With Unfulfilled Promise of a ‘Normal Life’
• Middle East Eye: Red Cross Defends Role in Aleppo Evacuations After Damning U.N. Report