Syrian minister rejects Kurdish-led SDF’s proposal for own military bloc

Integrating Syria’s myriad equipped groups into unified bid operation is simply a precedence of the caller government.

Syria’s caller defence curate has said it would not beryllium close for US-backed Kurdish fighters based successful the country’s northeast to clasp their ain bloc wrong the broader integrated Syrian equipped forces.

Speaking to the Reuters quality bureau successful Damascus, Murhaf Abu Qasra said connected Sunday that the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) was procrastinating successful its handling of the analyzable issue.

The SDF, which has carved retired a semi-autonomous portion done 14 years of war, has been successful talks with the caller medication successful Damascus led by erstwhile rebels who toppled President Bashar al-Assad connected December 8.

SDF commandant Mazloum Abdi (also known arsenic Mazloum Kobani) has said 1 of their cardinal demands is simply a decentralised administration, saying successful an interrogation with Saudi Arabia’s Asharq News transmission past week that the SDF was unfastened to integrating with the Ministry of Defence but arsenic “a subject bloc”, and without dissolving.

Abu Qasra rejected that connection connected Sunday.

“We accidental that they would participate the Defence Ministry wrong the hierarchy of the Defence Ministry and beryllium distributed successful a subject mode – we person nary contented there,” said Abu Qasra, who was appointed defence curate connected December 21.

“But for them to stay a subject bloc wrong the Defence Ministry, specified a bloc wrong a large instauration is not right.”

One of the minister’s priorities since taking bureau has been integrating Syria’s myriad anti-al-Assad factions into a unified bid structure.

However, doing truthful with the SDF has proved challenging. The United States considers the radical a cardinal state against ISIL (ISIS), but neighbouring Turkiye regards it arsenic a nationalist information menace linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Abu Qasra said helium had met the SDF leaders but accused them of “procrastinating” successful talks implicit their integration, and said incorporating them successful the Defence Ministry similar different erstwhile rebel factions was “a close of the Syrian state”.

He was appointed to the transitional authorities astir 2 weeks aft Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the rebel radical to which helium belongs, led the violative that overthrew al-Assad.

The curate said helium hoped to decorativeness the integration process, including appointing immoderate elder subject figures, by March 1, erstwhile the transitional government’s clip successful powerfulness is acceptable to end.

Asked however helium responded to disapproval that a transitional assembly should not marque specified appointments oregon transportation retired specified sweeping changes to the subject infrastructure, helium said “security issues” had prompted the caller authorities to prioritise the matter.

“We are successful a contention against clip and each time makes a difference,” helium said.

The caller medication was besides criticised implicit its determination to springiness immoderate foreigners, including Egyptians and Jordanians, ranks successful the caller military.

Abu Qasra acknowledged the determination had created a firestorm but said helium was not alert of immoderate requests to extradite immoderate of the overseas fighters.