Syria’s new defence minister Murhaf Abu Qasra said it would be “not right” if US-backed Kurdish fighters stationed in the country’s northeast kept their own bloc within the Syrian military, according to Reuters.
The leadership of the Kurdish fighters, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), is negotiating with a new administration in Damascus led by former rebels who ousted President Bashar al-Assad on 8 December. However, Abu Qasra said the SDF was prolonging a solution to the sensitive issue.
SDF commander Mazloum Abdi stated that one of their main demands was a decentralised administration, and that the forces were open to integrating with the Ministry of Defence, but as a “military bloc” and without dissolution.
Abu Qasra rejected the proposal on Sunday.
We say that they would enter the Defence Ministry within the hierarchy of the Defence Ministry, and be distributed in a military way – we have no issue there. But for them to remain a military bloc within the Defence Ministry, such a bloc within a big institution is not right.
Meanwhile, the US considers the group a key ally in the fight against Islamic State militants, whereas Turkey sees the Kurds as a threat to national security.
Abu Qasra was appointed to the transitional government about a fortnight after the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) led the offensive resulting in the ouster of Assad. The minister said he expected to complete the integration process by 1 March, when the transitional government’s tenure ends.
We are in a race against time and every day makes a difference.
He emphasised that “security issues” had prompted the new state to prioritise the issue. The administration is being criticised for its decision to give some foreigners, including Egyptians and Jordanians, ranks in the new army.
