Syria’s central bank has begun arrangements to open a branch in Raqqa after the city in the northeast was taken from Kurdish-led fighters by government forces, the state broadcaster reports. Raqqa is one of Syria’s largest cities. The SDF has been running it since it ousted the armed group ISIL in 2017. Syria’s central bank also said it would encourage other banks to return to the city, which it said should represent a “qualitative leap” in banking services.
A man celebrates as government forces enter Raqqa city on Sunday [Karam al-Masri/Reuters]
AK Party spokesman praises Syria’s handling of SDF
Omer Celik, spokesman for Turkiye’s ruling AK Party, has praised President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s launch of “anti-terrorism operations” against Syrian Democratic Forces. He accused the SDF of attempting to create a state within a state, which he said would pose a threat to Ankara’s goal to create a “region without terror”. Celik also tied Syria’s future governance and relationship with the SDF – which has links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) – with Turkiye’s own peace process. The PKK is an outlawed group in Turkiye and Ankara has been negotiating with it to end its four-decade insurgency.
Kurdistan Workers’ Party fighters line up in formation in 2013 [File: Reuters]
Governance of Hasakah province hangs over leaders’ meeting
Reporting from Damascus, Syria Raqqa and Deir Az Zor are majority Arab populations, and these two provinces are going to have their institutions, both civil and military, under full Damascus control. But the ceasefire deal regarding Hasakah says just the civil institutions will be under Damascus’ control, which begs the question will it have military autonomy? There are also people saying there will be an appointed governor of Hasakah, a Kurdish governor of Hasakah, and some are even saying this might be commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi himself. So we’ll see what happens at this meeting between Abdi and President al-Sharaa. Hopefully there will be some definitive clarification on some of these unanswered questions.
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