Kurdish and Syrian officials discuss merger of armed forces
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi signing an agreement, to integrate the SDF into the state institutions, in the Syrian capital Damascus on March 10, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
Kurdish and Syrian government officials met in the northeastern province of Hasakeh with the commander of the main Kurdish-led group in the country, the Syrian Democratic Forces, which is backed by the US, on 19th March.
A turning point in the efforts to reunite the breakaway militias with the Syrian government, according to Asharq Al-Awsat.
The details of their recent breakthrough agreement are still being worked out, and negotiators will have overcome a decade of civil war.
The meeting comes a week after Syria’s interim government signed a deal with the Kurdish-led authority that controls the country’s northeast, including a ceasefire and the merging of the SDF into the Syrian army.
The deal should be implemented by the end of the year. It would bring northeast Syria’s borders and lucrative oil fields under the central government’s control.
Asharq al-Awsat
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