Warnings from QSD to America

ARK News: Mazloum Kobani, commander-in-chief of Syria's Democratic Forces, expressed his hope that Washington would keep its troops in Syria, warning the United States from “repeating its mistake in Iraq”, considering that US President Donald Trump hampered their relations with the regime.

In an interview with The New York Times on Sunday 12 May 2019, Kobani expressed his concern over President Donald Trump's plans to withdraw the bulk of US troops from Syria, pointing out that "the vacuum which left by the US withdrawal from Iraq in 2011 gave way to the establishment of Da’esh”.

"They should not repeat this mistake," said the commander-in-chief of Syria’s Democratic Forces.

Kobani expressed his hope that US troops would remain in Syria to help them fight against dormant cells of Da’esh after defeating the organization militarily and overseeing the restructuring of Syria's Democratic Forces to become an internal security force in the country.

Kobani mentioned that "negotiations on the reunification of Syria between QSD, which controls about a third of the country's territory and the Damascus government, have not borne fruit," adding that "the administration of President Donald Trump hindered the continuation of dialogue between the two parties."

He pointed out that a Democratic Syria even in the event of the withdrawal of all US forces from the country will continue their conflict as it was before the era of the International Coalition, saying: "Syria‘s Democratic Forces need more US support today, but will survive anyway despite the difficulties”.

The newspaper pointed out that Kobani has become a very important figure for the United States in his campaign against Da’esh in Syria, a former US official worked with the commander-in-chief of the “QSD” said: “We used to resort to the oppressed in everything”.

But relations between the two allies were damaged by Trump's sudden announcement in December of his intention to withdraw all US troops from Syria. The plan was later revised to keep some of the troops on the ground in the country.


Kobani the 52-year-old is still a mysterious figure, with few details of his life.

Kobani himself said that he was repeatedly arrested by the Syrian authorities, then traveled to Europe to perform political work, and then to Iraq to perform military action, and he was a long-time element of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which is classified by Ankara and Washington as a terrorist organization.

More than six US officials working with Kobani in Syria confirmed that he was connected to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), but he himself said it was "from the past."

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