Syria’s new defense minister says that the US-backed Kurdish rebels in country’s northeast should not have its own bloc inside the larger integrated Syrian armed forces.
Murhaf Abu Qasra claimed on Sunday that the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were putting off dealing with the complicated problem in an interview with the Reuters news agency in Damascus.
The new government in Damascus, which is headed by former rebels who overthrew President Bashar al-Assad on December 8, has been in negotiations with the SDF, which has carved out a semi-autonomous zone during 14 years of war.
In an interview with Saudi Arabia’s Asharq News channel last week, SDF commander Mazloum Abdi stated that one of their main demands is a decentralized administration. He also stated that the SDF was amenable to integrating with the Ministry of Defense, but only as “a military bloc” and without disbanding.
Defense minister, Abu Qasra rejected that proposal on Sunday saying, “We say that they would enter the Defence Ministry within the hierarchy of the Defence Ministry and be distributed in a military way – we have no issue there”.
