SYRIAN Democratic Forces (SDF) commander Mazloum Abdi said on Saturday there can be no political solution without the US in Syria, hinting at a deepening rift in the Kurdish movement.

In an interview with the Associated Press the military leader, who is believed to live in a US base for his own protection, reiterated calls for US occupying troops to remain in the north-east of Syria.

“We believe that there will be no political solution in Syria without the US,” he said. “To reach a political solution the US needs to stay and they need to play a role in this issue.”

“So the US role is not only in the fight against Isis… they are most needed to reach a political solution,” Mr Abdi insisted.

But the commander’s latest remarks have caused some consternation in the wider movement which insists Kurdish resistance is an anti-imperialist liberation struggle. 

The relationship with the United States was originally slated as a short-term tactical alliance, but critics fear it now appears to have become a longer-term political alliance.

Sources told the Morning Star that Mr Abdi’s comments are “sounding more and more like US State Department press releases” saying his latest statement has “crossed a line.”

The US presence in the largely Kurdish regions of northern Syria is not universally welcomed and they have been asked to leave by the Damascus central government.

President Bashar al-Assad accuses Washington of stealing the country’s natural resources and facilitating the resurgence of terror groups.

This claim was given credence with the links between the US and the two former leaders of Isis exposed in the Morning Star last weekend.

Mr Abdi’s stance is in opposition to that of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) leadership which has clearly stated that the future for the semi-autonomous region lies with Damascus.

In an interview with the Lebanese newspaper Al Nahar last October KCK co-chair, Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) military leader Cemil Bayik, spoke of the Kurdish movement’s warm relations with the Assad family.

Mr Bayik, who has a $4 million (£3m) US bounty on his head, insists that Kurdish-Arab unity is essential and that the resolution of the political crisis lies with Damascus and not Geneva.

His comments came soon after President of the Syrian Democratic Council Ilham Ahmed’s disastrous tour of the US where she appealed for recognition of the Autonomous Area of North East Syria.

Her efforts fell flat, receiving lukewarm support from a handful of minor politicians including pro-Trump anti-abortion lobbyists.