Kurdish integration deal still just ink on paper, Syrian Foreign Minister says

Asaad Al Shibani visits Ankara as Turkey and US push for the implementation of March 10 agreement

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shibani, left, and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Ankara on Wednesday. EPA

No concrete steps have been taken towards integrating Kurdish-led militias in north-eastern Syria into a new army run from Damascus, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shibani said on Wednesday.

Damascus signed an agreement in March with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) for their integration into a national military. But implementing that deal has made little progress, Mr Al Shibani said.

“All those discussions, unfortunately, just remained ink on paper,” Mr Al Shibani said in a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Ankara. “We are calling upon the Syrian Democratic Forces to implement what has been reached as a consensus so far.”

His comments came a day after Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara held talks with US special envoy to Syria Tom Barrack, who has been mediating between Damascus and the SDF, and the head of the US Central Command, Admiral Brad Cooper.

Syria's President Ahmad Al Shara greets the head of the US Central Command, Admiral Brad Cooper, in Damascus on Tuesday as the US special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack, second from right, looks on. Syrian Presidency / AFP

Mr Barrack, who also serves as Washington’s ambassador to Turkey, and Admiral Cooper then travelled to Hassakeh in SDF-controlled territory for further talks with the Kurdish group's commander, Mazloum Abdi. A State Department official declined to comment on their discussions, but told The National that the US continues “to support and facilitate dialogue between the Syrian government and the Syrian Democratic Forces aimed at integrating the SDF into the Syrian military”.

Mr Barrack said on X that implementing the March 10 agreement was “of critical importance not only to the stability and security of Syria, but equally to the strategic interests” of both Turkey and the US.

Mr Al Shibani's visit to Ankara also follows clashes in Aleppo city, where SDF units remained in charge of two neighbourhoods after Mr Al Shara's rebel group, a former Al Qaeda affiliate, toppled the Assad regime in December last year. Syrian security personnel occupied roads leading to the Kurdish-majority districts of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh on Wednesday after a truce halted the clashes between the army and the SDF.

In Ankara, Mr Al Shibani accused the SDF, which is backed by the US military as a partner force in counter-ISIS operations, of being “very slow” in undertaking the “right steps”. Further delays in implementing the March agreement would only result in “more losses” and delayed services and “a huge trouble in fighting against terrorism,” he said.

“Certain political and economy mistakes” may have contributed to the agreement’s slow implementation, he said, without elaborating. “But there shouldn't be any division in the Syrian society,” he added.

Syrian security forces stand guard as residents leave the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods of Aleppo on Tuesday following overnight clashes in the city. AP Photo

The territory controlled by the SDF contains much of Syria’s natural resources, including oil and gasfields, and major dams. Delays in handing over the Tishreen Dam, between the cities of Aleppo and Raqqa, to central government forces is one example of what Damascus sees as inertia on the SDF’s part.

The SDF says it is not opposed to integration but wants a level of autonomy for its fighter units in the new army, and elements of federalism in governance structures. Massacres against other minorities in Syria, including the Alawites and the Druze, have hardened the SDF’s position and desire to retain a level of autonomy, observers believe. Damascus rejects autonomy or federalist structures and insists that minority rights will be protected by the central government.

Turkey is pushing for the implementation of the March deal. It sees the presence of Kurdish militias on its southern border as a national security threat, and the SDF as a direct extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Ankara has designated the PKK a terrorist organisation, as have the European Union and the US. The PKK agreed in July to dissolve itself, but Kurdish armed groups in Syria have said the decision does not apply to them.

“No terrorist organisation should benefit from the instability of Syria, creating threats to the region and creating any threat for Turkey as well,” Mr Fidan said on Wednesday, speaking alongside Mr Al Shibani.

Mr Al Shibani last visited Turkey in August as part of a large ministerial delegation. That trip saw the two countries strike a deal on military training and consultancy, and Turkish Defence Ministry officials have since said that the country will provide land, sea and air support to develop the Syrian government’s capabilities.

Turkey, Syria’s largest northern neighbour, has emerged as a key source of influence over the new government since the Assad regime’s fall.