SDF BOOSTS RELATIONS WITH SAUDI ARABIA, PRAISES ITS ROLE IN “STABILIZATION” OF SYRIA

Elham Ahmad

Saudi Arabia’s Al-Riyadh newspaper made an interview with Co-Chairman of the Syrian Democratic Council (a political wing of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces), Ilham Ehmed. This could be considered the first interview of SDF officials to the Saudi media.

Ilham Ehmed praised the role of Saudi Arabia in promoting stability in Syria:

“Saudi Arabia is a brother country of Syria and important to Muslims. The SDF is ready to cooperate with countries seeking to end the conflict in Syria and to impose stability by building a democratic Syria away from all sectarian and national projects.“

When asked about the role played by Qatar in the Syrian warfare, she said:

“Many regional countries involved in the Syrian issue could have played a positive role in resolving the crisis, including Qatar, but their support for groups at the expense of other groups led to the division of the opposition, and this opened the door to the spread of extremism and terrorism throughout Syria.”

Thus, the SDF representative de-facto supported the ongoing Saudi political and media campaign against Qatar.

Commenting the role of Iran, Ilham Ehmed said:

“There is no place for sectarian and national projects in Syria. Any conflict that goes in this direction will have very negative consequences for the Syrian society and the Syrian regime must also realize the fact that turning back the clock before 2011 is impossible.“

Saudi Arabia is one of the main supporters of the so-called Syrian opposition, the Free Syrian Army (FSA), Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda) and many other terrorist groups in Syria.

Until 2017, Saudi Arabia worked closely with Qatar to support these groups in Syria. It is believed that Saudi Arabia may approach the SDF after the Syrian opposition and the FSA have proved their uselessness. Furthermore, Saudi Arabia is one of the key Washington’s allies and follows the US agenda in the Middle Eastern region.

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