BEIRUT: Representatives from Syria’s Kurdish-run nort­h­eastern region met with the government in Damascus last week to discuss self-administration in a postwar Syria, a leading Kurdish official said on Tuesday.

It was the second meeting between the two sides, and they agreed to continue their discussions, said Ilham Ahmed, the co-president of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Council.

The SDC delegation pressed for constitutional reforms to enshrine regional self-administration, said Ahmed, who described the government’s response as “not positive.” “We have lots of work ahead of us, and I don’t think this will be easy,” said Ahmed.

The Syrian government has vowed to reassert its rule over the whole country after surviving seven years of civil war.

President Bashar Assad is demanding the departure of US troops, who are embedded with the military arm of the SDC, the Syrian Demo­cratic Forces, in the northeast Rojava region.

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2018