Syria defence minister says open to talks with Kurds, but ready to use 'force'
by AFP Staff Writers
Damascus (AFP) Jan 22, 2025
Syria's defence minister said on Wednesday that Damascus was open to talks with a Kurdish-led group on its dismantling, but did not rule out the use of force should negotiations fail.

"The door to negotiation with the (Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces) SDF is currently open," Murhaf Abu Qasra told reporters including AFP.

"If we have to use force, we will be ready," he said.

Last month, an official said SDF delegates met Syria's leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, who heads the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group that spearheaded the rebel offensive that ousted Bashar al-Assad.

Sharaa had told Al Arabiya TV that the Kurdish-led forces should be integrated into the new national army so that weapons are "in the hands of the state alone".

The US-backed SDF spearheaded the military campaign that ousted Islamic State group jihadists from their last bastion in Syria in 2019.

The group controls much of the oil-rich northeast of the country, where they enjoyed de facto autonomy during much of the civil war since 2011.

"They offered us oil, but we don't want oil, we want the institutions and the borders," Abu Qasra said.

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