Playing with wolves: Will state survive SDF's deadly "hug"?

A victorious state, having liberated Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa, suddenly halts its efforts to reconcile with the SDF leadership in Hasakah, who hail from the Qandil Mountains, and grants war criminals sovereign positions despite their lack of loyalty to the Syrian state; appointing Noureddine Issa Ahmed as governor of Hasakah and Sipan Hamo as deputy minister of defense.

Now, the SDF is beginning to mobilize the public through its members in civilian clothing, and, more dangerously, through cells that have effectively infiltrated the state apparatus.

This systematic infiltration of state institutions cannot be considered "national reconciliation" in its traditional sense; rather, it is more akin to a modern-day Trojan horse operation. How can a state that sacrificed martyrs to cleanse its land of terrorism and foreign influence open the doors of sensitive decision-making centers to figures whose history is intertwined with separatist projects and subservience to foreign powers?

Granting these leaders official positions gives them "sovereign immunity," enabling them to address the international community as representatives of the state, while their true agenda serves ethnic or ideological enclaves alien to the Syrian fabric. Figures like Sipan Hamo at the top of the Ministry of Defense hierarchy mean exposing the military plans and defense capabilities of an entity that has been—and continues to be—operating according to the dictates of Qandil.

The current SDF strategy relies on "civilian camouflage," whereby the public is incited against the state using the state's own tools. This makes suppressing unrest or maintaining security a complex matter in the eyes of the public, as long as the instigator wears the uniform of an official.

History does not forgive states that place their trust in those who have proven their loyalty only to foreign arms. Are we witnessing a shrewd political settlement, or is this the beginning of the end for state sovereignty over the eastern region under the guise of "integration and recognition"? Playing with wolves in the same house is an adventure that may leave nothing standing.

I fear that Issa Ahmed and Hamou will exploit their positions to later declare their defection from the state, after the latter granted them legitimacy and influence.

Do those who plan the policies of this wounded country understand the reality?

Al-Hussein Al-Shishakli