SDF says disarmament is a “red line”
DAMASCUS,— Syria’s government has firmly rejected Kurdish demands to retain their weapons amid renewed talks over integrating Kurdish forces and institutions into the Syrian state, a government source told state media Thursday.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which control large parts of Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava) in the north and east, have insisted on maintaining their arms as part of their autonomous administration.
However, the Syrian official said on Al-Ikhbariya television that refusing to disarm or maintain an autonomous military force is “completely unacceptable” and contradicts the principles of unifying the national army.
The source referred to a March agreement between interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known by the name Abu Mohammed al-Golani, and SDF commander-in-chief, General Mazloum Abdi, which called for integrating Kurdish institutions into Syria’s state framework.
Despite regular meetings since then, progress has stalled amid ongoing unrest elsewhere in the country.
Recent violence in southern Syria’s Druze heartland of Sweida, where nearly 1,400 people, mostly Druze civilians, have died, and attacks on Alawite communities have raised Kurdish concerns.
A Syrian Kurdish news agency, Hawar ANHA, reported that a planned meeting Thursday in Paris between Kurdish and Syrian government delegations was postponed.
During the Sweida clashes, a senior Syrian Kurdish official urged the central government to urgently reconsider its policies toward minorities.
Damascus maintains its insistence on reunifying the country under central authority.
Farhad Shami, the spokesperson of the SDF forces, told al-Yaum TV Wednesday that disarmament is a “red line” for Kurdish forces.
“No one is surrendering in Syria. Those betting on our capitulation will lose — the tragic events have made that clear,” Shami said, referencing the violence in Sweida.
In response, the government source accused the SDF of using the unrest as a political tool.
“Using the events in Sweida or along the coast to justify refusal to return to the state fold is a manipulation of public opinion,” the source said.
The official added, “A genuine national dialogue cannot happen under the threat of weapons or with backing from foreign powers.”
On Saturday, SDF commander Mazloum Abdi met with U.S. Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack to discuss southern unrest, according to the U.S. Embassy in Syria on X.
The Autonomous Administration, established in 2018, governs the region based on democratic confederalism, which emphasizes direct democracy, gender equality, secularism, and environmental sustainability.
The Kurdish YPG/YPJ forces, the core of the SDF, are credited with being the most effective fighters against the Islamic State in Syria. The U.S. has supplied them with weapons.
The SDF, which captured large areas from ISIS, including the final holdout in the village of Baghouz in March 2019.
An estimated 12,000 suspected ISIS members remain detained by Kurdish authorities since 2019.
More than 21,000 Kurdish fighters—both men and women—have been killed fighting ISIS and Turkish-backed Syrian Islamist militias.
(With files from AFP | Agencies)
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