Syria, Kurds agree to further talks after integration meeting stalls

DAMASCUS –

Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi held discussions in Damascus on Sunday with government officials over the incorporation of his forces into the state, though Syrian state media said the talks yielded no concrete progress.

Abdi reached an agreement in March with President Ahmed al-Sharaa to fold the civil and military bodies of the Kurds’ semi-autonomous administration into the central government by the end of 2025. However, longstanding disagreements have stalled implementation.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said a senior delegation, including Abdi, met officials in the capital as part of ongoing negotiations over military integration. In a later statement, the SDF said the talks had concluded and that further details would be announced at a later stage.

The Syrian government did not issue an official readout. State television, citing a government source, said the meeting “did not result in tangible outcomes” to accelerate implementation of the agreement on the ground, though both sides agreed to continue discussions.

The SDF controls much of Syria’s oil-rich north and north-east and, backed by a US-led coalition, played a central role in the territorial defeat of Islamic State in 2019.

Efforts to integrate the force into state structures have proved complex since the overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad a year ago, with Damascus and the Kurdish leadership accusing each other of hindering progress.

Abdi has repeatedly called for a decentralised political system, a demand rejected by Syria’s new Islamist-led authorities. Relations have periodically flared into violence, most recently during clashes in Aleppo last month.

In December, a Kurdish official said Damascus had proposed restructuring the SDF into three divisions and several brigades, including a women’s unit, with deployments remaining under SDF commanders in Kurdish-held areas. Syria’s foreign minister later said the proposal was under review.

That same month, Abdi said efforts were underway to prevent the talks from collapsing, adding that he believed failure was unlikely.

Turkey, a key backer of Syria’s new leadership, regards Kurdish forces along its border as a security threat and has pressed for their integration into the state. Last month, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan warned the SDF against undermining Syria’s stability, saying Ankara’s patience was wearing thin.

Turkey, which shares a 900-kilometre border with Syria, has carried out repeated military operations aimed at pushing Kurdish forces away from its frontier.