Syrian Kurdish leader says Damascus integration complete

Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said Thursday that the integration of Kurdish-led military, security and administrative institutions into Syrian state institutions was complete.

Abdi, who heads the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, made the statement at an event in Qamishli in northeastern Syria, months after an agreement was reached with the new authorities in Damascus.

“I want to say that the phase of integrating military, security, and administrative institutions into national state institutions is complete and finished,” Abdi said. “From now on, we begin a new phase.”

The Kurdish administration, backed by the United States, had built its own civilian and military institutions in northern and northeastern Syria after the civil war began in 2011. Kurdish-led forces also spearheaded the battle against the Islamic State group until its territorial defeat in Syria in 2019.

The January agreement called for full integration of Kurdish civil and military institutions into the Syrian state. Washington described the move as “historic.”

The deal followed clashes between Syrian Kurdish fighters and forces of the new authorities, during which the Kurds lost swathes of territory. During the violence, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa signed a January 16 decree enshrining Kurdish national rights and recognising Kurdish as a national language.