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Syrian Kurdish Leader in Damascus for Talks on Military Integration

This is Beirut, 04/01 14:40 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Syria Mazloum Abdi Kurds Ahmad al-Sharaa

Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi was in Damascus on Sunday for fresh talks with officials on integrating his forces into those of the central military, the Kurds' armed forces said. Abdi signed a deal in March with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa to merge the Kurds' semi-autonomous administration into the government by the end of 2025, but ...

How Syria Can Begin Integrating the SDF

Seth J. Frantzman , 2025-12-24 10:00 - Reading : 6 minute(s)

Turkey Syria SDF Kurds Ahmad al-Sharaa

Clashes erupted December 22 in Aleppo between Syrian government troops and the local Kurdish security forces (Asayish), killing at least three people and underscoring the challenges facing efforts to unify armed factions under the Syrian transitional government. Even as Damascus seeks to consolidate nationwide security and integrate armed ...

Kurds at a Crossroads as Middle East Shifts

Seth J. Frantzman , 2025-11-25 21:30 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Kurds Middle East Syria ISIS Iraq

Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander Mazloum Abdi’s November 19 trip to the autonomous Kurdistan region of northern Iraq was an important moment, underscoring that Kurdish leaders now appear to understand the importance of cooperation amid sweeping changes in the region. Abdi—a close partner of the US military in Syria who spent ...

Two Syrian Soldiers Killed by Kurdish Forces

This is Beirut, 2025-11-20 11:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Damascus Syria SDF Kurds IS

Kurdish forces killed two Syrian soldiers in overnight clashes in the country's northeast, the defense ministry said Thursday, with the Kurds saying they were targeting positions used by the Islamic State group. The ministry said in a statement carried by SANA state news agency, that clashes took place after the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces ...

Kurdish PKK Militants Say Have Left Key Area in North Iraq

This is Beirut, 2025-11-17 10:35 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Turkey PKK Kurds Iraq

The Kurdish militant group PKK said Monday its forces had withdrawn from a key border area in northern Iraq in a move aimed at shoring up the peace process with Turkey. The pullout comes six months after the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) formally renounced its armed struggle against Turkey, drawing a line under four decades of violence that had ...

PKK Withdrawal Ended First Peace Process Phase

This is Beirut, 2025-10-27 11:20 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Turkey PKK Conflict Kurds

Turkey's pro-Kurdish DEM party on Monday hailed the withdrawal of PKK fighters from Turkish soil as a "critical" step that completed the first phase of Ankara's peace process with the Kurdish militants. The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has pursued four decades of violence against the government, began withdrawing its forces on Sunday, ...

SDF Commander Mazloum Abdi Announces Preliminary Deal to Join Syrian Army

This is Beirut, 2025-10-17 13:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Damascus United States Syria FDS Kurds Army

The commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mazloum Abdi, has announced a “preliminary agreement” with the Syrian government to integrate SDF fighters into a unified military structure within the Syrian army, according to Al Hadath. In an interview with the Associated Press (AP) on Thursday, Abdi discussed what could be a ...

Syrian Kurdish Leader says Reached first Deal on Merging Forces with Regular Army

This is Beirut, 2025-10-13 11:33 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Damascus Internal Security Forces Kurds

Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi has announced to AFP that he had reached a "preliminary agreement" with Damascus on the integration of his troops into Syria's military and security forces. Abdi, who heads the powerful Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), had met Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus last week, ...

Erdogan Urges Syria's Kurds to Integrate With New Government

This is Beirut, 2025-10-08 14:30 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Turkey Kurds Recep Tayyip Erdogan Syria

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Syrian Kurds to "complete their integration" with Syria's new government after the announcement of a comprehensive ceasefire, in a transcript shared by his office Wednesday. "The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) must keep their word. They must complete their integration with Syria," Erdogan told Turkish ...

Syria Announces 'Comprehensive Ceasefire' with Kurds After Clashes

This is Beirut, 2025-10-07 22:10 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Syria Kurds Aleppo

Syria announced a comprehensive ceasefire with Kurdish forces after a meeting on Tuesday between Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi that followed deadly clashes in the northern city of Aleppo. Syria's authorities, who took power last year after overthrowing Bashar al-Assad, have rejected Kurdish demands for a ...

Syrian Kurdish Forces Say Five Members Killed in IS Attack

This is Beirut, 2025-09-25 17:50 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

USA Kurds Syria ISIS

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said that an attack on Thursday by Islamic State group militants in Syria's east killed five of its members. IS jihadists, once in control of large swathes of Iraq and Syria, were territorially defeated in Syria in 2019 in a battle spearheaded by the SDF with support from an international ...

Thousands of Syrian Kurds Rally for Decentralization

This is Beirut, 2025-09-17 16:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Syria Kurds Syrian Democratic Forces

Thousands of people in Kurdish-controlled northeastern Syria rallied Wednesday in support of their autonomous administration and called for decentralization as negotiations with Damascus over the region's future stall. Damascus and Syria's Kurds have been in talks to integrate Kurdish civil and military institutions into the central government ...

Kurds