SYRIAN Kurdish-led opposition forces gave a cautious welcome at the weekend to an agreement between a Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) delegation and representatives of President Bashar al-Assad’s government.

The SDC delegation, led by Ilham Ahmed, said both sides had undertaken to “chart a roadmap to a democratic, decentralised Syria” in a possible first big step to end conflict between the two forces.

Ms Ahmed’s delegation said that the government had agreed to “form committees on various levels” to develop negotiations, end armed conflict and chart the roadmap.

“It is still very early to talk of an agreement, but we are working on it,” said Kurdish representative Sihanouk Dibo, who added that negotiations could be “long and arduous.”

The cutting edge of the SDC armed forces (SDF) are the Kurdish YPG People’s Protection Forces, but they also contain Arab, Armenian, Assyrian, Turkmen and Circassian units that coalesced in the war to resist the Isis death cult.

The SDF received aerial support from the US, enabling it to liberate much of northern Syria, especially east of the Euphrates.

But relations with Washington have deteriorated, as the US abandoned its allies in Afrin, conniving at Turkish forces’ occupation of their territory.

The SDF and government forces have mostly avoided direct conflict, but the two sides have different visions for Syria’s future.
SDC co-chair Riad Darar told Al Jazeera that his organisation had responded to a request for talks from Damascus.

Referring to President Assad’s comment in April that the SDF should get ready for dialogue or to fight, Mr Darar said: “We know that we are not ready to combat the Syrian government forces because our battle was against [Isis].”

He said that land liberated by the SDF was “stable and peaceful,” adding: “One day, we want to return them to a Syrian state and not to the Syrian regime.

“The regime is one thing and a new Syrian state is something else.

“We will only return these lands to the Syrian state once we are done with setting up a new state, a new system that we will build all together through negotiations.”