WASHINGTON DC - The United States temporarily relaxed some sanctions on Syria as a test to see if the new leadership in Damascus will live up to its promises of an inclusive government, said a former defense official.
Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, who has jihadist roots, “is saying all the right things right now. He is talking about governing for all of Syria, he is talking about a role for all Syrians in their government, regardless of ethnicity, sect, geography,” former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East Dana Stroul told Rudaw on Wednesday.
“And you've seen that the United States is willing to test the premise that he can govern in an inclusive way and protect communities that are at risk by giving some relaxing of US sanctions,” added Stroul, who is now the Director of Research at the Washington Institute
“The reason that those relaxing of the US sanctions is only six months is because it's a test to see whether or not he will actually take actions behind his good words,” she said.
Stroul echoed what US and EU officials are saying that the people of Syria should determine the future of their country, but added that “the challenge is that different Syrians have different views about how they should be governed.”
She thinks that the administration of President Joe Biden, whose term expires on Monday, has worked to facilitate a degree of autonomy for northeast Syria within a unified Syrian state.
“I think that there should absolutely be a role for the Syrian Democratic Forces in the future national security forces of Syria. The Syrian Democratic Forces have done a tremendous level of service for the world in both defeating and ousting Daesh [Islamic State] from the territory it held and now maintaining custody of these populations,” she said.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces are an ally of the US-led coalition to defeat the Islamic State and are in control of the northeast of the country. They are in talks with the new leadership in Damascus about their role going forward.
Regarding security forces in Iraq, Stroul said that Iranian-backed militia groups that do not answer to Baghdad are a problem for the US.
“I think it's important to clarify what the United States wants - Iraq has a system in which security forces should report to the commander-in-chief,” she said.
In the Kurdistan Region, the US has been assisting the Kurdistan Regional Government with Peshmerga reforms - freeing the forces of political influence and forming them into a modern army.
“It's been slow-going progress, but the United States generally has a lot of patience, and the history of Iraq is one fraught with a lot of conflict and a lot of bloodshed,” Stroul said. “So, my personal view is that we need to have patience with our partners, and that's what you've seen in terms of this very long roadmap that the United States has provided and a consultative process to support the unification of the Peshmerga under the ministry of Peshmerga.”
