US troops in Syria should supervise the integration of Kurdish fighters into the country’s security forces, President Ahmad Al Shara said.
His comments came during a visit to the US, where he was received by President Donald Trump before the White House announced that Syria had joined the anti-ISIS coalition.
“I believe the best solution is that the US troops present in Syria should supervise the integration [of the Syrian Democratic Forces into the central government’s security forces]. The task of protecting Syrian territory will be the responsibility of the state,” he told The Washington Post in an interview.
It is believed that there are between 1,500 and 2,000 US troops in Syria.
In recent weeks, talks have reached advanced stages on integrating the US-backed, 40,000-member SDF into the post-Bashar Al Assad administration, without major changes to its structure. However, little appears ready to be signed, with the SDF demanding international guarantees for any arrangement, Syrian sources told The National last month.
“Syria today is capable of shouldering this responsibility. Keeping Syria divided, or having any military force that is not under control of the government, represents the best environment for ISIS to flourish,” Mr Al Shara said.
A US-brokered ceasefire on October 7 halted urban warfare between government forces and SDF-linked fighters in a Kurdish area of Aleppo, Syria’s industrial centre and second-largest city. The fighting had threatened to unravel a tentative integration deal reached in March between Mr Al Shara and SDF commander Mazloum Abdi.
On Wednesday, Mr Abdi wrote on X that he had a “wonderful phone call” with US envoy Tom Barrack to discuss the outcome of Mr Al Shara's meetings at the White House, vowing to “accelerate the integration of the SDF into the Syrian state”.
Agreement with Israel
Soon after Mr Al Shara and Mr Trump met in Washington, it was announced that Syria had officially joined the anti-ISIS coalition. Syrian Minister of Information Hamza Al Mostafa confirmed that Damascus had signed a political agreement, without elaborating.
The US State Department also announced the partial suspension of the so-called Caesar Act sanctions for 180 days, with the exception of transactions involving Russia and Iran. The Caesar Act, which encompasses most US sanctions on Syria, can only be lifted permanently by Congress. The White House previously issued a temporary waiver in May.
“Stability is linked with the economy, and the economy, or economic development, is linked with the lifting of sanctions,” Mr Al Shara said. “This discussion has been going on for months now, and I believe that we reached good results. But we are still waiting for the final decision.”
He also discussed direct negotiations with Israel regarding its troops occupying Syrian territory, saying that any agreement would only be possible after Israel withdrew from the land it grabbed following the fall of the Assad regime on December 8 last year.
“We are engaged in direct negotiations with Israel, and we have gone a good distance on the way to reach an agreement. But to reach a final agreement, Israel should withdraw to their pre-December 8 borders,” he said.
He warned, however, against Israel’s expansionist strategy.
“Israel occupied the Golan Heights in order to protect Israel, and now they are imposing conditions in the south of Syria in order to protect the Golan Heights,” Mr Al Shara said. “So after a few years, maybe they will occupy the centre of Syria in order to protect the south of Syria. They will reach Munich on that pathway.”
Mr Al Shara is a former fighter with extremist groups, including Al Qaeda. “I have fought so many wars, but I’ve never caused the death of an innocent person,” he said.
He also said he met the mother of missing US citizen Austin Tice and introduced her to his own mother.
“My mother had a similar story,” Mr Al Shara said. “I went missing for seven years, and everyone thought that I was killed except my mother. She had strong belief that I would come back one day.”
