The Syrian Democratic Council announced a new unified administration in the areas controlled by the SDF in North and East Syria, after a Thursday meeting that included officials from several local councils.
According to ANHA, Amina Omar, the Co-Chair of the Syrian Democratic Council, said that the objective of the new administration was to “form a management structure that coordinates services between the areas.”
Omar noted that the distance between different local administrations and the fact that each was established at a different time under different circumstances has led to discrepancies in the provision of services and other administrative challenges.
Siham Qariou, a Syriac woman, and Farid Atti, a Kurdish man, were elected as the co-chairs of the new body, tentatively known as the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. Five other members of the leadership council were also elected. The administration will be based in Ain Issa, a city in Jazira Canton north of Raqqa.
In a speech made after her election, Qariou said that the new administration would “[expand] the work of the Autonomous and Civil Administrations and..develop, work and coordinate among these administrations to meet the needs of the citizens.”
She noted the process of consensus-building undertaken to create an authority that could function effectively at this crucial moment in time. “This administration has been formed with full agreement among the various Civil and Autonomous Administrations, components and national forces,” she said.
Currently, the administrative structure of Northern Syria relies on street and neighborhood-level communes, local councils, canton councils, and the Syrian Democratic Council, which is made up of representatives from different political parties and administrative regions.
The creation of the new administration comes as the Syrian Democratic Council negotiates with the Syrian government over the future status of the region, and the upcoming battle for Idlib brings renewed attention on the part of international powers.
