Tensions Build in Syria Between New Leaders and Kurdish-Led Militia

A showdown is gathering pace in Syria as the country’s new leaders demand that a powerful Kurdish-led militia backed by the United States disarm and integrate into a unified national military force.

The tensions are centered around preparations to establish a caretaker government to replace the dictatorship that fell in early December. The new leaders want the Kurdish-led militia, the Syrian Democratic Forces, to commit to giving up its weapons as a condition to be included in a national dialogue. The dialogue is supposed to lead to the formation of an administration that will govern until elections can be organized.

The dialogue over Syria’s political future will be held during a conference, but no date has been set for it yet. Hassan al-Daghim, head of the government-appointed committee tasked with planning the dialogue, said on Thursday that armed groups would not be included “unless they lay down their arms and integrate” under the Ministry of Defense. “This is a fundamental issue,” he added.

That stance has raised the prospect that the Kurdish-led administration linked to the Syrian Democratic Forces and effectively controls an autonomous region in northeastern Syria could be excluded from the national dialogue and any caretaker national government.

The Syrian Democratic Forces have consistently refused to lay down their arms since the dictator Bashar al-Assad was ousted. The militia, which is mostly made up of members of the Kurdish ethnic minority, was the main U.S. partner in the fight in Syria against the terrorist group Islamic State, which was largely defeated in 2019 after it had taken over parts of the country.

The lingering threat of the Islamic State in Syria has remained a key concern internationally, particularly among Western countries.