Syria’s president appoints ex-commander of Kurdish-led SDF as advisor

Kurdish person appointed to the relation days aft the dissolution of the unit helium commanded.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has appointed Mazloum Abdi, person of the now-dissolved Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), arsenic a statesmanlike advisor.

Al-Sharaa issued Decree No 164, appointing Abdi arsenic “as an advisor to the Presidency of the Republic” connected Thursday, the Syrian authorities quality bureau Sana reported.

Recommended Stories

• list 1 of 3Kurdish-led SDF announces dissolution aft merging with Syria’s military
• list 2 of 3Kurdish-led SDF has dissolved, but has Syria truly unified its military?
• list 3 of 3What’s down the SDF’s woody with Damascus?

The determination comes 3 days aft Abdi announced the dissolution of the SDF and the completion of its integration with the Syrian military.

Abdi is the astir elder of respective Kurdish figures appointed to authorities posts. Another commandant was made adjunct defence curate for the eastbound portion earlier this year.

The advisory relation is simply a lesser presumption than 1 offered successful January, erstwhile al-Sharaa projected making Abdi lawman defence curate and nominating him arsenic politician of Hasakah province, successful bid to reconstruct authorities power implicit the SDF-controlled provincial capital.

Al-Sharaa and Abdi archetypal agreed to fold the SDF into the cardinal authorities successful March 2025. That woody made small advancement earlier its year-end deadline, spurring authorities forces to conflict into the northeast successful January, taking the cities of Raqqa and Deir Az Zor from the SDF.

A ceasefire that ended the warring placed Raqqa, Deir Az Zor and Hasakah nether cardinal authorities power and committed the SDF to articulation the defence and interior ministries nether a 14-point plan.

One Kurdish-led unit has yet to beryllium absorbed. The YPJ, the SDF’s women’s units, asked to articulation the defence ministry but were told the army’s operation has nary units for women.

Alongside the subject track, al-Sharaa issued a decree successful January recognising Kurdish arsenic a nationalist connection and restoring citizenship to Syria Kurds, the archetypal ceremonial designation of Kurdish rights since Syria’s independency successful 1946.

The SDF was the largest unit inactive extracurricular the army, and its dissolution leaves Damascus with ceremonial authorization implicit astir each Syrian territory. Reunifying the state has been al-Sharaa’s cardinal committedness since erstwhile Syrian person Bashar al-Assad was overthrown successful December 2024.