Riyad Darar evaluates the year 2022

The co-chair of the Syrian Democratic Council, Riyad Darar, stressed the need to search for a new qualitative solution to the Syrian crisis, calling on the Damascus government to change its dealings with the crisis and start an understanding with the Autonomous Administration that would end the suffering of the Syrians.

In an interview with ANHA’s agency, Riad Darar assessed the current situation in Syria, and expected the explosion of protests in the areas controlled by the Damascus government, due to the impact of the economic crisis.

Darar also assessed the policies pursued by the Astana trio (Russia, Turkey, and Iran), especially the Turkish efforts to eliminate the Autonomous Administration.

Darar stressed that the real solution to the Syrian crisis lies in the application of the Autonomous Administration model in all Syrian regions.

The text of the interview was as follows:

* Another year ends and the Syrian crisis continues without any horizon for a solution. How do you assess the year 2022 in general, Syria?

This year passed without any prospect of a solution. At first, it witnessed an attack on al-Sinaa prison, which envisioned a new scenario targeting the region in order to sabotage the achievements, the diplomatic successes, and the continued US support for the stability of the region.

The sabotage was a tool of the Turkish state to distort the image of the region for that, and through the use of UAVs targeting work cadres as military, security and administrative leaders, this was a means of covering the entry of ISIS elements through the occupied Ras al-Ain, and this is a sign of escalation.

This escalation aims to restore sabotage by mobilizing the security cells of ISIS, and through it sabotaging the relationship through the Turkish threat with the US forces present in the region. The US investment law came to exclude northern Syria from Caesar's sanctions, which raised the Turkish administration's wrath.

The Turkish state was not satisfied with sabotage and assassinations, but rather escalated its threat to a new attack after it used its air force to strike the infrastructure and further target local leaders.

This year was the year of Turkish escalation with the aim of electing him, but also in implementation of the Astana summit in Tehran, which drew lines for reconciliation between Erdogan and Assad, which came through reconciliation statements that aim to hand over the opposition in Istanbul to the regime.

In southern Syria, we saw that tension and chaos prevailed in Daraa, despite the previous settlements, and in As-Suwayda, the situation was close to an explosion, as the governorate witnessed popular confrontations and demonstrations. How do you evaluate the events there and what are their causes? What is the solution in your opinion?

Reconciliations in Daraa Province did not give results, the means of harassment in As-Suwayda continued, assassinations, economic restrictions, drug smuggling, diluting the necessities of life and corrupting people, so the people of dignity regain their sense of the continuation of the revolution on the path of the regime, and they are moving without stopping to restore this lost dignity and reject the methods of restrictions and control of their lives. The movement indicates that bad conditions mean more uprisings that express more despair, frustration, and loss of hope.

* Politically, the year 2022 witnessed the convening of several rounds of the so-called Constitutional Committee and the Astana process, but they failed. In your opinion, what are the reasons for this failure? What is the impact of this on efforts to end the Syrian tragedy?

The constitutional tours were not very effective, they were a passage of time, restriction of the opposition and a waste of opportunities, and the Russian war in Ukraine came to end the possibility of continuing the tours after the sanctions that were imposed on the Russian delegations. Therefore, whether these tours stopped or continued, they have no value, as they are just tourist tours for the participating delegations without achievement. It proves the Russian control over its path, which is considering moving its headquarters from Geneva to other regions.

Ending the Syrian crisis is not contingent on the Constitutional Committee, no matter how justified the negotiators are. It is the last thing left of the recognition of the international path to solve the crisis. The Turkish move to conduct reconciliations with the Assad regime is an expression of a change in the path of the solution, with the support of the Astana process.

* During the year 2022, the Syrian file witnessed talk of reconciliation between Damascus and the Turkish occupation... What are the factors that led to this development? How do you evaluate this reconciliation? What is its purpose in your opinion?

Heading towards reconciliation is a Turkish electoral goal. Syria is one of the elements of the heated debate between the parties in Turkey. Reconciliation or its declaration came after the failure of the Turkish threat of a military operation in northern Syria. to go to reconciliation.

This is a new policy that has an impact from the Astana process and its aftermath. It is clear that the Syrians in the northwest do not want it and it is clear that some factions reject it. Therefore, radical changes took place in these factions, threats and intervention from Jabhat al-Nusra (Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham) as a means of pressure, coercion and silencing the violators.

* During this year, the Turkish occupation continued its attacks on northern and eastern Syria, in addition to issuing threats to launch a new aggression. How would you rate that? How do you see the course of the next stage in this regard?

All plans to occupy the region or demographic change in it are the results of the Astana consensus, and the Turkish position has escalated until it is targeting the American presence in the region in the media. Blackmail in the events is the Turkish way to achieve its goals and play on the competition between Russia and America in the region. This is his way, and the events serve him by virtue of the need for him by both parties.

This path, the threat, and the bombing are subject to the path of the Turkish elections, and the operation will remain in progress until the election situation stabilizes until Erdogan’s victory is confirmed, which is difficult to estimate and its repercussions are great for the Turkish president if an occupation takes place, as there are more tragedies and more displacement, and there are no justified reasons for a military operation in Turkey. The Turkish voter, and in the event of the occupation of the Syrian regions, the Turkish army will put itself in a crisis of close confrontation because it will become inside the Syrian lands and the Syrians have the right to resist. Before embarking on the process, this is part of the thinking that the next path is full of pitfalls and thorns, and the process may not be realized as Erdogan wants it.

T/ Satt.

ANHA