US puts kibosh on Kurdish breakaway plan

The US says it is opposed to any unilateral declarations of autonomous federal zones in Syria, after the main Syrian Kurdish party said it would soon declare a federal region in the country’s north.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner says Washington would not be against federalism if the Syrian people chose it as part of a negotiated political settlement.

Announcing the breakaway region, the Kurdish party said the area’s Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen would all be represented, calling it a model for the rest of the country.

Both Turkey and the Syrian government are opposed to such a declaration, fearing that it could lead to the country’s partition.

— AP