William Roback: The current situation in Syria is not one of our priorities and we will not support the establishment of a Kurdish state

The former US envoy to the international coalition forces in Syria, William Roback, said that his country is not in a hurry with the current situation in Syria, and will not support the establishment of a Kurdish state in northeastern Syria.

This came in an interview with the former envoy with Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper, published today, Sunday, in which he talked about the goals of the United States of America and the expected policies of the new administration in Syria, which he summarized by defeating ISIS and supporting the United Nations’ path to implement international resolution 2254 and expelling Iran from Syria and preventing the Assad regime forces from using weapons of mass destruction, getting rid of chemical weapons, responding to the humanitarian crisis and alleviating the suffering of the Syrian people inside and outside the country.

To achieve these goals, America possessed a number of papers and tools, including the limited American presence in the eastern section of northeastern Syria near the oil and gas wealth and the borders of Iraq, as the number of US forces ranges between 500 and 800 soldiers and contractors.
They include the support of the Syrian Democratic Forces and local partners, who number 100,000, and their number, who control that strategic area, its resources and roads, and US tools include economic sanctions against the Assad regime.

Roback said that in addition to these tools, there are tools that obstruct the achievement of the goals, namely stopping or slowing down the efforts of Arab or European normalization with the Assad regime and stopping the reconstruction of Syria and the contribution of Arab and European countries to that.

There are also pressure tools, according to Roback, including Israeli strikes to put pressure on the Assad regime and the Turkish presence in northwestern Syria to prevent the Assad regime forces from taking control of it.

Roback served as a political advisor at the US embassy between 2004 and 2007, and served as the US administration’s envoy to northeastern Syria between 2018 and 2019.

Source: Agencies