Syria Says Talks on Integrating Kurdish forces End Without Tangible Results

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - Talks in Damascus between Syrian officials and The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) Commander Mazloum Abdi concluded without concrete progress, state media reported, underscoring persistent obstacles in efforts to integrate Kurdish-led forces into Syria’s central military structure.

Mazloum Abdi, Commander of the SDF held talks with officials in Damascus on Sunday regarding the integration of his forces into the central government, but Syrian state television later reported that no tangible results were achieved.

Abdi signed an agreement in March with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa to merge the civil and military institutions of the Kurds’ semi-autonomous administration into the government by the end of 2025. Differences between the sides, however, have delayed implementation.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said in a statement that a delegation from its leadership, including Abdi, met government officials in Damascus “as part of discussions related to the military integration process.” In a later statement, the SDF said the talks had concluded and that details would be published later.

Damascus did not issue an official statement on the meeting. State television, citing a government source, said the talks “did not produce tangible results on speeding up the implementation of the agreement on the ground,” adding that both sides agreed to hold further meetings.

New official SDF statement

In a new statement released on Saturday, the SDF confirmed that a formal leadership-level meeting took place between its leadership and representatives of the Damascus government.

According to the SDF Media Center, the meeting focused specifically on the file of military integration, within what it described as an “official dialogue framework.” The statement said both sides agreed to continue holding meetings in the coming period to complete discussions and pursue the file “within an organized process until reaching results.”

The statement did not indicate that any breakthrough had been achieved during the latest round of talks.

The SDF controls large areas of Syria’s oil-rich north and northeast (Western Kurdistan) and, with the support of a US-led international coalition, played a key role in the territorial defeat of ISIS in Syria in 2019. Integrating the force into the state has proven complex since the ousting of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad a year ago, with both sides exchanging accusations of obstructing the agreement’s implementation.

Abdi has repeatedly called for decentralization, a position rejected by Syria’s new Islamist authorities. Tensions between Kurdish forces and the government have occasionally escalated into clashes, most recently in Aleppo city last month.

In December, a Kurdish official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity, that Damascus proposed dividing Kurdish-led forces into three divisions and several brigades, including one for women. The forces would be deployed under SDF commanders in Kurdish-controlled areas, the official said. Syria’s foreign minister later said the government was studying the Kurdish response.

That same month, Abdi said “all efforts are being made to prevent the collapse of this process” and that he considered failure unlikely.

Turkey, an important ally of Syria’s new leaders, views the presence of Kurdish forces along its border as a security concern and has publicly called for their integration into the state. Last month, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan urged the SDF not to be an obstacle to Syria’s stability and warned that patience was running out. Turkey, which shares a 900-kilometer border with Syria, has launched successive operations to push Kurdish forces away from its frontier.

With further meetings planned but no immediate progress reported, the future of the Kurdish forces’ integration remains unresolved amid ongoing political and security pressures.

Updated on Dec. 4, 2025. at 11:39 pm, the new official SDF statement was added