Integrating Syria’s numerous armed groups into a unified command structure is a priority for the new government.
Syria’s new defense minister said it was not appropriate for U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters based in northeastern Syria to maintain their own bloc within the broader integrated Syrian army.
Mulhaf Abu Kasra told Reuters in Damascus on Sunday that the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) was procrastinating in responding to complex issues.
The SDF, which carved out the semi-autonomous region through 14 years of war, is in talks with the new government in Damascus, led by former rebels who overthrew President Bashar al-Assad on December 8.
SDF Commander Mazloum Abdi (also known as Mazloum Kobani) said in an interview with Saudi Arabia’s Asharq News Channel last week that one of their core demands is decentralized administration. He is willing to integrate with the Ministry of Defense, but without disbanding the “military bloc.”
Abu Kasra rejected the proposal on Sunday.
Abu Kasra, who was appointed defense minister on December 21, said: “We say they will go into the Ministry of Defense within the hierarchy of the Ministry of Defense and will be distributed in a military manner, but there will be no There’s no problem.”
“But for them to continue to be a military bloc within the Department of Defense, it’s not right to have such a bloc within a large agency.”
One of the minister’s priorities since taking office has been to integrate Syria’s numerous anti-al-Assad factions into a unified chain of command.
However, doing so with SDF proved difficult. The United States considers the group a key ally in the fight against Islamic State (ISIS), while neighboring Turkiye views it as a national security threat linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Abu Kasra said he had met with SDF leaders, but accused them of “postponing” talks on integration, saying he did not want to incorporate them into the defense ministry like other former rebels. He said it was “the right of the Syrian state.”
His appointment to the interim government came about two weeks after his Hayat Tahrir al-Sham rebel group led an offensive to topple al-Assad.
The minister said he hoped to complete the integration process, including the appointment of senior military officials, by March 1, when the transitional government ends.
Asked how he responded to criticism that the Transitional Council should not make such appointments or major changes to military infrastructure, he said “security issues” prompted the new state to prioritize the issue. He said that it became.
“We are in a race against time and every day makes a difference,” he said.
The new government was also criticized for its decision to award new military ranks to some foreign nationals, including Egyptians and Jordanians.
Abu Kasra acknowledged that the decision had caused an uproar, but said he was not aware of any extradition requests for foreign fighters.