The United States says it does not recognize self-governed zones inside Syria, after Kurdish parties declared the establishment of a federal system in areas they control in the country's north.
"We don't support self-ruled, semiautonomous zones inside Syria,” said State Department spokesman John Kirby on March 17. “Whole, unified, nonsectarian Syria -- that's the goal."
The Syrian Kurds’ declaration was also dismissed by Damascus and the Western-backed opposition National Coalition. Turkey has also warned against such a unilateral move.
The plan to declare a federal system across northern Syria was approved at a meeting involving Kurdish, Arab, and Turkoman leaders in the town of Rmeilan.
The new federal region would include three Kurdish-controlled enclaves bordering Turkey and mainly Arab and Turkoman areas captured from the Islamic State extremist group.
Syrian Kurdish political groups have been excluded from UN-brokered talks in Geneva aimed at finding a political solution to end the five-year civil war.
