The General Commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mazloum Abdi, stated that three parties are attacking areas under his forces’ control in northeast Syria, namely Turkey, the Syrian regime, and the Islamic State organization.
He added in his recorded speech on Wednesday, March 27, that Turkey continues to attack the areas in northeast Syria in an attempt to “create instability in it, and force its inhabitants to migrate from it.”
Abdi referred to the Syrian regime and its allies also trying to “destabilize the region” through their direct security interventions, and attempts to create “discord” among the components of the region and society’s categories.
He considered that the “danger” of the Islamic State organization is still present and poses a threat to the peoples of the region and the whole world.
The SDF commander said that the daily security operations in partnership with the allies (International Coalition Forces) carried out by his forces against the organization, have prevented the Islamic State activities from getting out of control.
Abdi’s comments came during the Future Syria Party conference held on Wednesday in the city of Raqqa in northeast Syria.
The party was founded in 2018, and its official website states that it aims to emphasize the unity of Syria, reject divisionist projects, and aims to hold a national conference among the internal and external political opposition parties without exclusion.
The areas under the control of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), which is the political umbrella for the SDF, are periodically attacked by Turkey in al-Hasakah province and the northern countryside of Raqqa, with the frequency of these attacks rising from time to time, targeting service facilities and infrastructure more often than not.
In Deir Ezzor province, Turkish targets are absent, but repeated attacks by the Syrian regime target the area across the Euphrates River, which separates the areas of control there.
Cells from the Islamic State organization are also active in the northeast regions of Syria, which the organization controlled most of before 2019. These cells consistently target military checkpoints and points of the SDF, and civilians accused by the organization of working for the latter.
The most recent appearance of Mazloum Abdi was in December 2023, when he said that the Syrian regime continues to rely on security and military solutions, which was recently evident during its movements in Deir Ezzor province.
During his participation in the fourth general conference of the Syrian Democratic Council (MSD) at the time, he called for intensifying efforts and working on organizing the ranks of the “national” opposition throughout Syria.
He added that “the opposition linked to a foreign agenda does not have any programs and has become outside of the equation”, and that the international powers do not possess “strong programs” to lead the solution, nor do they show a will to force all parties to emerge from the crisis.