SDF to integrate into Syrian army in preliminary deal
DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – The General Commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), General Mazloum Abdi, announced on Thursday a preliminary agreement to integrate SDF units as a unified bloc into the Syrian army, marking a step toward ending the country’s military fragmentation.
According to Abdi, the agreement provides for senior positions for SDF leaders and personnel within the Ministry of Defense of the transitional government, ensuring fair representation of the SDF within Syria’s official military institutions.
Abdi highlighted that the combat experience gained by the SDF in battles against ISIS will contribute to strengthening the Syrian army’s capabilities and reorganizing it along professional and national lines. He also noted that police and security administrations in northern and eastern Syria will be merged into national security agencies as part of a broader effort to unify military and security institutions.
“The implementation of this agreement depends on reaching a comprehensive political understanding among Syrians,” Abdi said, stressing that success in this process would remove any pretext for Turkish intervention in Syrian affairs.
The commander acknowledged that recent developments in Suwayda and along the Syrian coast have delayed the full implementation of the agreement initially signed with the transitional government on March 10. Earlier this month, Abdi met in Damascus with senior officials, including Farouk Al-Shar’a and the ministers of foreign affairs and defense, to agree on mechanisms for integrating the SDF into a unified Syrian military structure.
The announcement comes amid rising military and political tensions in the country, with the Syrian government holding parliamentary elections that did not include areas under SDF control and reports of limited clashes between security forces and Kurdish fighters in neighborhoods of Aleppo.