Last
year, Russia and China vetoed a UN security council resolution to
impose economic sanctions on Syria because it failed to yield to
peace plans. The US ambassador Susan E. Rice called it a “dark day”
because “we have missed yet another critical opportunity to work
together”. The United States was a very keen on removing Mr. Assad
and the resolution included some severe punishments including
sanctioning on the Syrian government under the UN's Chapter Seven
which allows for external military intervention in the country to
enforce Security Council demands.
Russia
saw the sanctions as opening the door for military intervention and
therefore could not accept it. The United States saw this reality and
therefore in August that year, according to a Reuters report, US
President Barack Obama signed a “secret” order to support Syrian
rebels bring Assad down. According to the report, the United States
was collaborating with a secret command center operated by Turkey in
Adana city, about 60 miles from the Syrian border.
Now
that the fighting between the Assad regime and rebels is in it third
year, the US has abandoned its plans for a sanction under UN
Charter's Chapter 7 which allow for direct military intervention
knowing that such a UN resolution will not easily be accepted by
Russia to whom Bashar Assad has been a long time ally and Russian
weapons buyer. But almost a year after it first authorized secret
support for Syrian rebels, it officially announced support alongside
10 other countries including Saudi Arabia, for the Syrian rebels
taking the Russian-US one step up. Russia on the other hand announced
support for Syria's Kurds who are currently in a severe fight with
the Jabhat al-Nusra (JN), Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) –
both of these groups are al Qaeda affiliates -, and the al-Faruk
Brigade, which is part of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) but joined hands
with the other two groups to fight the Kurdish forces called the YPG
(Poeple's Defense Units) supported by the PYD (Democratic Union
Party) that's believed to be an off-shoot of the Leninist-Marxist PKK
(Kurdistan Workers Party). The YPG is trying to impose Kurdish
control over the Kurdish territories in Syria as the preliminary
stage for autonomy or self-administration which the US opposes.
The
past week witnessed, and continues to see more, intensified fighting
between JN/ISIS on the one hand and the YPG and the Jabhat Akrad one
the other. Jahat Akrad was part of the FSA but defected to fight on
the YPG side against the JN/ISIS after the Kurds reported attacks by
the JB/ISIS on the Kurdish residents.
US
and Russian rhetoric on the clashes between the two sides is already
polarized with Russia condemning the attacks by the JN/ISIS and
showing support for the Kurds, while the US State Department said it
watched the developments and was concerned that the violence could
spill over to some of the neighboring countries in the region. The US
State Department also voiced concern over plans by the PYD to
establish a Kurdish administration in the Kurdish areas until the war
in the country is over.
According
to reports, dozens have been killed in the clashes, mostly from the
JN/ISIS, and the Kurdish YPG forces have made swift advances in the
mostly Kurdish populated areas around Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) city
and Gre Spi (Tal Abyad).
Russia
directly showed support for the Kurdish people and the YPG fight
against the al-Qaeda affiliates. The Russian foreign Ministry was
also very specific in describing the actions of the JN/ISIS who “
started to kill innocent people by cutting off their heads,”a
statement by the foreign ministry said, “Kurds had to free Abu
Musab in exchange for an agreement to release hostages.”
"Moscow
strongly condemns the atrocities of international terrorists in
northeastern Syria and the excesses and abuses perpetrated by
extremists against a peaceful Kurdish population which is not
involved in the ongoing political and military conflict in Syria,"
According
to Koshan Zamani, a Kurdish political activist and observer, the
reason for Russia's support for the Kurds is obvious: “[The
existence of] al-Qaeda has never served, and never will serve,
Russia. They have a history of conflict and war. Besides, the Kurds
were a neutral force in Syria and this served the extension of Bashar
Assad's regime, and by extension the supremacy of Russia in the
area.”
Russia
is also trying to enlist Kurds for the Geneva II peace conference. On
June 2, a delegation from the Supreme
Kurdish Council (SKC), a body that unites Kurdish parties from
Syria,went on an official visit to Syria to meet Russian Deputy
Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov in Moscow (source) in order to get
help from Russia for a place for Syrian Kurds in the peace
conference.
Alan
Semo, a PYD member has told al-Monitor that Russia’s Foreign
Minister Sergey Lavrov has promised them that “without you [the
Kurds], there will not be any meeting in Geneva,”
Acording
to Ahmed Suleiman, a spokesman of the Supreme Kurdish Council,
“Russia respects the Kurdish people in Syria and recognizes that
the Kurds are following a legitimate struggle. The existence of the
Kurdish people is denied and in the new Syrian constitution, the
rights of Kurds must be recognized.”
The
United States, Turkey's long time ally on the other hand does not
support a Kurdish autonomy in Syria and is not happy about Kurdish
control in northeast of Syria along the Turkish border and YPG gains
on the JN/ISIS despite their knowledge of al-Qaeda fighters being
among the ranks of the Jihadi Islamist groups. Al-Nusra and ISIS are
publicly affiliated with the al-Qaeda.
In
a statement posted on the US State Department website, US
State Dept spokesperson Jen Psaki said "We’re very concerned
by press reports indicating that the Kurdish Democratic Union might
declare an independent Kurdish region in Syria. Such a declaration is
highly provocative, as it will certainly exasperate tensions between
Arabs and Kurds and give excuse for extremists to exploit the
situation. So we’re also watching that and we’re concerned about
that as well."”
But
she had nothing to say about the ISIS (technically al-Qaeda) and
Kurdish clashes other than "We continue to follow reports that
Syrian Kurds are fighting ISIS in the Raqqah province. We’ve been
very clear about our concerns over the regional instability calls by
the crisis in Syria and the propensity for spillover violence. We’re
obviously watching events on the ground all across Syria very
closely."
Zamani
told Kurdish Observer the United States does not support Kurds in Syria because the US
is more interested in the “bigger interests”. “No matter how
much bloodshed there is in Syria, they [US] still prefer one
[unified] country to a Kurdish opposition group who are a minority in
the country as compared to the Sunni and Alevite Arabs. Therefore,
the US is not ready to support Kurds. The US has long been in
disagreement with the Kurdish interests because Kurds are a minority
in the Middle East. The US wants to see a stable Middle East, any
claims of human rights and any such things are merely slogans and
will not see US support if they are not in he interest of the United
States”
According
to Zamani, Syria has long been the ground for Russian-US rivalry.
Russia is represented by the Bashar Assad regime, and the United
States is represented by the rebel groups. But why has the United
States not taken military action to resolve the issue? Is it because
it fears that Russia will back Mr Assad even in a US-Syria conflict?
Koshan Zamani says “no”
“The
thing is United States is not sure about the future of Syria. Chances
are the Islamists will accede to power and the US is not ready to
leave Syria for Islamists... if the US wants to remove Assad
militarily, they can do it easily and Russia will hand it over to
them. But the change in regime will not benefit the US and Israel”
References:
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/06/syrian-kurds-participate-geneva-ii-conference.html
