Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa meets with Kurdish leaders to advance talks on the integration of the Syrian Democratic Forces into the national military.
SDF leader Mazloum Abdi (L) and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) signing a deal to end the war between their two groups, March 2025.(photo credit: SCREENSHOT/X/VIA SECTION 27A OF THE COPYRIGHT ACT)
By
SETH J. FRANTZMAN APRIL 16, 2026 14:16Updated: APRIL 16, 2026 16:49
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa hosted two key
Kurdish leaders on Thursday to discuss further integration of the
Syrian Democratic Forces into the Syrian security forces.
According to Syrian state media SANA, “President Ahmad al-Sharaa received Mazloum Abdi and Ilham Ahmad on Thursday, in the presence of Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani and Presidential Envoy Ziad al-Ayesh, who is tasked with implementing the January 29 agreement with the (SDF).”
Mazloum Abdi is the head of the SDF. The SDF is a US-backed force in Syria that was key to defeating ISIS. It was founded in 2015 with the backing of the US.
The US had been helping to fight ISIS in Syria since the terrorist group burst onto the scene in 2014. ISIS had not only captured a swath of Syria but also invaded Iraq in June 2014 and took over the city of Mosul. ISIS carried out massacres and a genocide in Iraq. It targeted Shi’ites, Christians, and the Yazidi minority. It kidnapped thousands of Yazidis, primarily women.
In Syria, ISIS attacked the Kurds in eastern Syria and laid siege to the Kurdish city of Kobani in northern Syria on the border of Turkey.
Turkish Kurds watch smoke rises over Syrian town of Kobani after an airstrike, as seen from the Mursitpinar border crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province, October 18, 2014. A U.S.-led military coalition has been bombing Islamic State fighters wh (credit: KAI PFAFFENBACH/REUTERS)
The US intervened to help prevent the fall of Kobani. In the wake of that success, the US partnered with the SDF. The SDF grew out of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). Abdi became the key leader of the SDF and a partner of the US. Over time, ISIS was defeated in Syria, and it became unclear what the SDF would do next.
In eastern Syria, the civilian rule of the area was handed to an organization called the AANES.
When the Assad regime fell, things began to change. US Central Command, which was backing the SDF via Operation Inherent Resolve, facilitated a meeting between Abdi and Sharaa in March 2025.
At this meeting, a roadmap to integrating the SDF into the new Syrian forces was presented. At the time, the Syrian Transitional Government didn’t have very many well-trained forces. Most of the trained ones had come out of Sharaa's Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, a mostly Arab group that also had extremist roots.
Concerns over ethnic, religious differences between SDF, Sharaa
There were concerns about how the SDF, whose roots were more Kurdish, leftist, and secular, would integrate with a primarily Arab, conservative Islamic group.
The challenge has continued for a year. In January, there were clashes between Kurds and the Syrian government. However, a new deal in late January paved the way for Syria to deploy Interior Ministry forces to areas the SDF had held in eastern Syria.
Now the sides are trying to integrate forces. One SDF commander,
Sipan Hemo, has become a key defense ministry official in Syria. However, the question is how to integrate the equivalent of three SDF divisions, some 60,000 people, into the new government forces. In addition, the SDF has women units, and it's unclear how they will be integrated.
SANA says the new meeting in Damascus on April 16 “focused on completing integration into state institutions.” Ilham Ahmad is a key figure who played a role in the AANES and now serves as the SDF Co-Chair of the Foreign Relations Department.
ANHA, a Kurdish media outlet, says “SDF Commander-in-Chief Mazloum Abdi and Co-Chair of the Foreign Relations Department Ilham Ahmed met with the head of the Syrian interim government, Ahmad al-Sharaa, in Damascus. The meeting was attended by Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani and presidential envoy Ziad al-Ayesh and focused on advancing integration within state institutions.”
It added that “media outlets affiliated with the interim government reported on the outcomes of the meeting. They said discussions focused on strengthening coordination and following up on steps to integrate administrative and military structures into state institutions.”
SANA noted that “on January 29, the Syrian government announced an agreement with the (SDF) on a ceasefire as part of a comprehensive deal. The agreement includes phased integration of military and administrative structures into state institutions, the deployment of security forces to the centers of Hasakah and Qamishli, and the transfer of all civil and government institutions, as well as border crossings and entry points, to state control.”
