Syrian Government and Kurdish Forces Fail to Reach Military Merger Agreement

Syrian Government Officials Meet with SDF Commander Over Integration Plans

Government officials in Damascus have held talks with Mazloum Abdi, commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), regarding plans for military integration. The meeting, which took place on Sunday, did not produce any tangible results and the sides agreed to hold further discussions at a later date.

The SDF, a Kurdish-led force backed by the US, has been negotiating with the government since March over its integration into the national army. The agreement, signed in March 2023, stipulated that the SDF would be integrated into state institutions by the end of 2025. However, implementation has stalled.

The main sticking point in the negotiations is whether the SDF will remain a cohesive unit within the new army or be dissolved and its members individually absorbed. The group has tens of thousands of fighters and is the largest force yet to be integrated into Syria’s military.

As part of the agreement, border crossings with Iraq and Turkey, as well as airports and oil fields in the northeast, are expected to come under government control. Prisons holding approximately 9,000 suspected members of the ISIL group are also anticipated to be transferred to government custody.

Turkish authorities consider the SDF a terrorist organization due to its association with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been involved in a decades-long conflict on Turkish soil. Ankara views the presence of Kurdish forces along its border as a security threat and has called for their integration into the state, but not as a single unit.

The SDF has insisted on a decentralized system of governance that would allow it to maintain influence in areas under its control. Tensions between the SDF and government officials have occasionally led to violence, including clashes in Aleppo last month.

Source: Al Jazeera