The government of Damascus made a statement regarding the operations carried out by the SDF against ISIS mercenaries in Hesekê, and claimed that the SDF committed war crimes.

Reacting to the statement, the Foreign Relations Department of the Autonomous Administration of Northern and Eastern Syria described the statements of the Damascus government as "funny".

The Foreign Relations Department's statement is as follows: "The Syrian crisis has left behind 10 years during which the government of Damascus has become the main responsible for the humanitarian, political and economic crises experienced by the country. The peoples of Syria had to migrate to different countries of the world during this crisis period. The entire infrastructure of Syria collapsed. A part of Syrian territory was occupied by the Turkish state. The Damascus government has a great responsibility for what happened.

We see that the Syrian regime continues to attack the counterterrorism forces in an unwise and chauvinistic way. It accuses the SDF of crimes, accusations it certainly does not deserve. These statements reveal the mentality of Damascus once again. With this mentality, Damascus continues to maintain its despotic power. The regime sees resistance against mercenaries attacking a prison where thousands of jihadists are kept as a ‘war crime’. In 2015, the regime and its army left the same prison after the attack of 100 terrorists. This prison was liberated by the YPG and YPJ."

The regime prefers the Islamic State

The Autonomous Administration added: "The statements of the regime's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Feysel Miqdad, are simply funny. What the regime should be worried about today is the crisis in Syria for the past 10 years, the crimes committed during that time, the massacre of people and their migration. We wish the interests of the Syrian people were the basis of these statements made by the regime. They forget that Hesekê is a city in Syria and is fighting against ISIS. Those who fight against ISIS in Hesekê are the sons of Syria. However, it seems that they preferred ISIS to ignore the failure of the regime in dialogues with the Autonomous Administration and the success of the Autonomous Administration in the region.

We condemn these irresponsible statements. We would like to remind Damascus that ISIS has occupied a large part of Syrian territory. Thanks to the resistance and sacrifice of our people, the lands of Syria were liberated. The regime should have reacted to the crimes committed by the Turkish state and its mercenaries on Syrian territory. It should have drawn attention to the role played by the Turkish state in legitimizing the occupation in the UN Security Council. However, the statements made today gave a great morale boost to ISIS and the Turkish state that directly supports it.

As the Foreign Relations Department of the Autonomous Administration of Northern and Eastern Syria, we once again call on the government of Damascus to think carefully and be vigilant. They need to see that none of its plans are working anymore. Nobody believes its stories anymore. Stop betraying and harming the Syrian people."