Kurds step up efforts to form self-government in northeast Syria
The Syrian Democratic Council is forming an autonomous-area administration in parts of northern Syria controlled by US-backed Kurds and holding talks with the Syrian regime.
BERLIN — The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) has formed a new autonomous administration for northeastern Syria.
Meeting Sept. 6 in Ain Issa, in Raqqa province — where US forces and the international coalition against the Islamic State (IS) remain — the SDC created the General Council of Self-Administration in Northern and Eastern Syria.
The General Council will coordinate between Kurdish-majority autonomous administrations and the civil councils of areas with Arab majorities. It will form executive committees to govern the area, which is under Kurdish control.
The General Council includes representatives of local councils and legislative and executive authorities affiliated with the administrations of Al-Jazira (Al-Hasakah), Kobani, Manbij, Raqqa and al-Tabaqa provinces, and the northern part of Deir ez-Zor province. The new council will work under the umbrella of the SDC, the political arm of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) controlling northeastern Syria.
