Syrian government officials held talks Sunday in Damascus with Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the Kurdish-led force in Syria, as they discussed plans to merge it with the national army, state media reported.
State TV said the meeting did not produce “tangible results” that would accelerate implementation of an earlier agreement and that the sides agreed to hold further meetings at a later date.
The talks in Damascus came after three rockets struck a western neighborhood of the capital, state media said. The state news agency called the rockets “random” and did not provide details on where they were fired from or who was behind the strikes. It said the rockets caused some damage to a mosque and a telecommunications center without inflicting casualties.
The merger discussions build on a deal signed in March between the leadership in Damascus under interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa and the Kurdish-led and U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. Under that deal, the SDF was to merge with the Syrian army by the end of 2025, though the process has faced disagreements.
One major sticking point has been whether the SDF would remain a cohesive unit within the new national army or instead be dissolved, with its members individually absorbed. The SDF has tens of thousands of fighters and is described as the main force expected to be brought into Syria’s military.
In a statement Sunday, the SDF said a delegation led by top commander Mazloum Abdi held talks with government officials in Damascus related to the military integration process. The SDF later said talks had ended and that further details would be released later.
The March deal also envisaged broader changes for the northeast under central government control, including border crossings with Iraq and Turkey, as well as airports and oil fields. It also anticipated that prisons holding about 9,000 suspected Islamic State group members would come under government control.
Turkey, which has wide influence in Syria, has opposed the SDF joining the army as a single unit. Ankara considers the SDF a terrorist organization because of its association with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has waged a long-running insurgency in Turkey, though a peace process is now underway.
The merger talks have unfolded amid recent tensions in northern Syria. In late December, clashes broke out between security forces and SDF fighters in Aleppo during a visit to Syria by Turkey’s foreign minister.