US says would not recognize Kurdish region in Syria

The United States warned Wednesday that it would not recognize an attempt by Kurdish groups in war-torn Syria to form an autonomous federal region.

Washington has supported and encouraged the Kurdish parties of the area in their fight against a common foe, the Islamic State jihadist group.

But the State Department said Wednesday it would not support the breakup of the country and that any new federal model would have to emerge from peace talks.

Amer al-Halloush (C), member of the Syrian Democratic Council, leaves after a meeting of more than 150 delegates from Kurdish, Arab, Assyrian and other parties in the town of Rmeilan, in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province, on March 16, 2016 ©Delil Souleiman (AFP)

"We've been very clear that we won't recognize any self-rule autonomous zones within Syria," spokesman Mark Toner told reporters.

"This is something that needs to be discussed and agreed upon by the relevant parties in Geneva and then by the Syrian people themselves."

Representatives of Bashar al-Assad's government and of the opposition ranged against him are negotiating an end to the civil war under UN auspices in Geneva.

But parties representing Syria's Kurdish minority have not been invited to the talks and are instead trying to create a unified region of their own.

Any bid to expand an existing system of self-rule will anger Turkey, wary of anything that might encourage Kurdish separatism within its own borders.

More than 150 delegates from Kurdish, Arab, Assyrian and other parties met Wednesday in Rmeilan, in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province.