Shafaq News- Damascus

Syria's deputy defense minister for the eastern region denied Tuesday that a separate Kurdish military structure is being established in Afrin, stating that recruitment of Kurdish youth into the Syrian Arab Army remains voluntary and on an individual basis.

Brigadier General Samer Awso —also known by his Kurdish name Sipan Hamo— said discussions underway concern opening enlistment to Kurdish youth from Afrin and Kurdish residents of Al-Hasakah province, not the creation of an autonomous military body. Any recruits, he said, would be absorbed into existing army formations rather than organized into a distinct unit.

Awso is a founding member of the People's Protection Units (YPG), the Kurdish force that formed the military backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the primary armed group controlling northeastern Syria under a semi-autonomous administration. He was appointed to his current post earlier this year as part of confidence-building measures following a January integration agreement between Damascus and the SDF.

The agreement, reached on January 30 after weeks of fighting in which Syrian government forces seized large swaths of SDF-held territory in the northeast, requires the full integration of SDF forces and institutions into the defense and interior ministries. It also covers the return of displaced populations and the handover of strategic assets, including oil fields and airports.

Ahmad al-Hilali, spokesman for the presidential team overseeing the process, said a high-level meeting was held in Aleppo province on April 15 covering two core files: the return of displaced persons, and the modalities of integrating the SDF into Syrian state institutions.

The meeting followed a Damascus encounter on April 14 between Syrian transitional President Ahmed al-Sharaa and SDF commander Mazloum Abdi, attended also by senior Kurdish political figure Ilham Ahmed, Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani, and the presidential envoy. Al-Hilali said the talks reaffirmed that integration is a national sovereignty track to be pursued within state institutions and in a manner that preserves Syria's territorial unity.