Rojava says won't implement decisions of new ‘exclusionary' government in Syria
PYD confirms 'serious efforts' for Turkey-SDF ceasefire in northeast Syria
Syrian cancer patients face growing crises due to medicine shortages
Germany welcomes formation of new Syrian government
Syria's Sharaa announces new cabinet
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdish-led administration in northeast Syria (Rojava) on Sunday criticized Syria's newly-formed interim government as 'exclusionary' and 'failing' to uphold diversity, stressing that they would not abide by its decisions.
Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Saturday announced his new 23-minister cabinet, which includes ministers from his former government.
The Democratic Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria (DAANES) on Sunday rejected the new cabinet, claiming that it 'resembled its [caretaker] predecessor in failing to take Syria's diversity into consideration and allowing a single faction to maintain control.' It warned that any government that does not represent Syria's plurality will not be able to properly manage the country and pull it out of its crisis.
The DAANES further noted that they will not adhere to the decisions of the new government in Damascus.
'We will not be concerned with implementing and executing decisions issued by it, as this insistence on repeating past mistakes will harm Syrians and will never launch a comprehensive political process that can provide solutions to the pending issues, problems, and crises Syria is experiencing,' their statement read.
The Kurdish-led administration has previously criticized other actions taken by the interim government in Damascus, accusing it of marginalizing Kurds and other minorities.
In early March, Rojava's ruling and opposition parties condemned Damascus for excluding the Kurds from the committee tasked with drafting Syria's constitutional declaration.
Two weeks later, the Kurdish-led administration in northeast Syria (Rojava) strongly rejected the draft of the interim constitution, approved by Sharaa, as perpetuating policies of ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad's regime.
Prior to that, the Kurdish opposition parties in mid-February slammed the exclusion of Kurds from a key committee tasked by Sharaa to prepare for a National Dialogue Conference aimed at discussing Syria's future.
Importantly, the interim constitution and its drafting committee, as well as the National Dialogue Conference and its committee, drew criticism from other components of Syrian society, including the Druze and the Christians.
Following a swift offensive, a coalition of rebel groups led by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) - headed by Sharaa - on December 8 toppled the Assad regime. Sharaa was in late January appointed as Syria's interim President.
Upon his appointment, Sharaa vowed to uphold the rights of all ethnic and religious groups. However, the international community has repeatedly criticized the new leadership in Damascus for its treatment of Syria's minority groups.
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Lebanese Writer: Syria's President Al-Sharaa Must Protect The Minorities – Not Blame Israel For The Sectarian Violence In The Country
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He wrote that Israel's support for the Druze in Syria is more than natural, given that they are part of the Israeli social fabric and serve in the Israeli military, and that Israel has not intervened in other cases of harm to Syrian minorities such as the Alawites or the Christians. The Syrian people under a cloud of violence (Source: Al-Arab, London, July 17, 2025) The following is the translation of Khairallah's column: "...The events in the Syrian province of Al-Suwayda, which has experienced and continues to experience crimes and atrocities against the Druze community, are an opportunity for the new Syrian regime, led by Ahmed Al-Sharaa, to reinvent itself – instead of settling for accusing Israel [of fanning the violence] or turning a blind eye to the attack on the Druze, committed by so-called Bedouin tribes, [if we believe the regime's] claims, which are unsubstantiated, to say the least! "This is an opportunity for Al-Shara to prove, in deeds and not words, that he is the president of all of Syria and of all the Syrians – and not the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham [HTS] and its supporters. He can do so by proving that the [new] Syrian state, which has been in existence for just seven months, can be different from the Alawite regime that had existed from 1966... "There is no way out of the profound crisis in which Syria finds itself unless this young regime takes charge of protecting the Druze, who are first and foremost Syrian citizens. In this realm, Ahmed Al-Sharaa and his aides can learn from recent past experience, and avoid what happened to the Alawites and Christians. "Last March [2025], the Alawites were slaughtered in the Syrian coastal region, after armed militias suppressed a move they had made to bring up what could be called 'the Alawite issue,' based on the assumption that the world takes an interest in their fate. But it turned out that the Alawites were the world's least concern, and that no one, including Israel, was willing to embrace the cause of a minority that had ruled Syria with an iron fist and with fire for some six decades. The Alawites are now paying the price for the crimes of Hafez and Bashar Al-Assad and other members of their family, who considered Syria nothing more than the ruling family's [private] ranch. "Israel did not interfere in events in Syria, particularly when they concerned the Alawites and then the Christians. It was clear that the Christians in Syria were the least concern of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government, even though they were massacred by an ISIS fighter inside a church in one of the Damascus neighborhoods.[1] The Syrian officials treated the Christians somewhat contemptuously, considering that they were a minority that played an important role in shaping Syria's history... "The Christians were the victims of the Egypt-Syria union [i.e., the United Arab Republic, a union of Egypt and Syria that existed in 1958-1961], and later they were the victims of the Ba'ath Party because of its dearth of political thought and its wickedness. [They were also] one of the victims of the Alawite regime, which handed the Golan over to Israel in June 1967 in order to ensure Hafez Al-Assad a monopoly on power after [the 1967 War] and also to ensure that Syria would be inherited by his son Bashar in 2000. "Ahmed Al-Sharaa received strong American and Western support, for example, meeting with President Donald Trump in Riyadh and visiting Paris. He played the card of the relations with Israel wisely, and at all times hinted at a return to the 1974 [Israeli-Syrian] separation of forces agreement. [2] He disregarded all Israeli attacks aimed at specific Syrian military sites. Moreover, he has established close ties with influential Arab countries, led by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He maintained the special relationship with Turkey and did not for one moment take lightly the issue of the Iranian presence in Syria. He took care to emphasize that this presence had ended permanently and that Syria would never again serve as a bridge between the Islamic Republic and its proxy Hizbullah in Lebanon. This great achievement, historic in nature, cannot be spent on marginal battles in which the Druze are required to be the victims. "Everything that Ahmed Al-Sharaa has done is good. But this does not mean that there is no need for reconciliation with the Syrians – all Syrians, including the Druze, who throughout the state's modern history have played an important and central role on the national level, starting with their rejection of the idea that Syria would include several states, including a Druze state. The Druze had a role in strengthening the Syrian national unity that Hafez Al-Assad, and later his son, tore to shreds, by gambling on an alliance of minorities led by the Alawites in order to confront the Sunni [majority]. The most dangerous thing that the elder and younger Assads did was to use the Islamic Republic of Iran to create a new demographic reality in Syria, and to change the political balance [of power] in Lebanon. "Yes, Ahmed Al-Sharaa has a chance to prove that he is the president of all of Syria and of all Syrians, without discrimination or distinction. It is easy to blame Israel [for the sectarian violence in the country], but it is difficult to block its interference in Syria's domestic affairs in a sensitive region like Al-Suwayda province. Israel's support for the Druze of Al-Suwayda is more than natural, given that Israeli Druze serve in the Israeli military and given the Druze community's historical role in the Israeli sphere. "To put it more clearly, Ahmed Al-Sharaa has no choice but to play the role of the historic head of state who leads the people and is not led by them. More important than anything else is the new Syrian president's duty to prove that he is Ahmed Al-Sharaa and not Abu Muhammad Al-Joulani [the name by which he was once known].[3] This requires both great courage and political maturity. Additionally, there is a need to play the role of the national leader who reconciles first with the Sunni moderates, and [then] also with the Druze, Christians, Alawites, and Kurds, of course."[4]
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