BEIRUT, August 11. /TASS/. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) continues integration talks with Syria’s new authorities but the process is not smooth, Badran Jia Kurd of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) said.
"Talks with Damascus continue but are proceeding slowly," he told the Al Arabiya television channel.
According to the AANES official, the Kurdish side is still ready to negotiate with Syria’s transitional government and calls for settling all disputes through dialogue.
Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, and SDF commander Mazloum Abdi signed an agreement on incorporating the Kurdish force into the Syrian government army on March 10. Under the agreement, control of all civilian and military facilities, including airports, oil and gas fields located in northeastern Syria will go over to Damascus by the end of the year.
However, talks between the interim government and the Kurds in Damascus on July 10 ended to no avail. The SDF delegation insisted on preserving its own military structure and joining the Syrian army as an independent force. Damascus, in turn, demanded that northeastern regions submit to the central authorities, both administratively and militarily.
On July 23, SDF military spokesman Farhad Shami said that amid the developments in Sweida Kurdish units will not surrender their arms to the authorities and stressed that the SDF are in talks with Damascus "as an independent rather than subordinate side."
France-and the United States-mediated talks between Syria’s new authorities and the Kurds were to be held in Paris on July 24 and 25 but were postponed to August. However, the SANA news agency reported on August 9 that the interim government had refused from the talks following a conference organized by the Kurds in the city of Hassakah on August 7 and 8. The conference was not agreed with the Damascus authorities and was attended by "separatist politicians" from the Druze and Alawite communities, the agency said, citing sources.