Bashar al-Assad says Syrian regime to take back all Kurdish held areas in new interview

Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has said he will eventually reclaim all Kurdish-held areas of the country, dashing the minority's hope of independence.

The Kurds last month agreed a deal with the Damascus government that saw the army return for the first time since the early days of the civil war, after the US announced the withdrawal of its troops.

The US retreat left Kurdish allies without international protection against a Turkish offensive, forcing them to strike an agreement with the Assad regime that allowed it to take up positions along the border.

But Assad indicated in an interview broadcast on state TV on Thursday that the agreement with the Kurds, who set up an autonomous administration in north-east Syria that came to cover nearly a third of the country, was not just a military one.

“The deployment of the Syrian army is an expression of the presence of the Syrian state, which means the presence of all the services which should be provided by the state,” he said.

Assad conceded that the regime’s return would be “gradual and rational” and that “new facts on the ground” would have to be taken into consideration.

“There are armed groups and we cannot expect they would hand over weapons immediately, but the final goal is to return to the previous situation, which is the complete control of the state,” he said.

The Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have for years been supported by the US in the fight against Islamic State, receiving funding and weapons.

As part of the ceasefire agreement Russia negotiated with Turkey the SDF would lay down their arms and retreat 20 miles back from the border.

Assad said that the deal was a “positive” step that would help his government achieve its goal.

“It might not achieve everything... it paves the road to liberate this area in the near future we hope,” said Assad, who has remained in power in Damascus with the help of powerful backers Russia and Iran.

Mazloum Kobani, commander of the SDF, has said the agreement with Damascus could open the way for a political solution to be worked out later with the government, that could guarantee Kurdish rights in Syria.

The Kurds have entered into talks with the regime on several occasions over the years.

It has previously refused concessions, including the recognition of the Kurdish language and identity, which had been denied under the Assad family’s Arab nationalist policies.

Sources close to the government indicate that it may be willing to budge on some Kurdish demands, including a guarantee of their rights in the new Syrian constitution, though it will be fall well short of autonomy.

Experts say the fall of Kurdish-held territory back to the regime has become all-but certain.

“For now the government has respected the agreement and the Kurdish presence, but once the Turkish threat is over, it will revert to its old-age way of dealing with domestic issues, Danni Makki, an independent Syria analyst in Damascus told The Telegraph.

“This means autonomy for the Kurds in northern Syria is essentially finished.”

Aron Lund, fellow with The Century Foundation, said “the SDF bubble has burst”: “Sooner or later, Kurdish-held cities in the northeastern interior are going to fall under his sway again. That means agriculture, hydroelectric dams, borders,” he predicted.

The future of lucrative oil fields currently under SDF control in the east is uncertain, however.

While they would be a major boon for the government, which has had to rely on Tehran for much of its oil in recent years, the US sent several hundred troops back into Syria last week to guard them.

Assad said he respected President Donald Trump's "transparency" in his bid for oil in the Middle East, a quality lacking in his predecessors, he claimed.

"He is the best American president, not because his policies are good, but because he is the most transparent president," he said.

"All American presidents ... project themselves as defenders of human rights and noble and unique American values.  The reality is that they are a group of criminals who represent the interests of American lobbies, i.e. the large oil and arms companies, and others."