Syrian Government, Kurdish Officials Discuss Merging Their Armed Forces

A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi signing an agreement, to integrate the SDF into the state institutions, in the Syrian capital Damascus on March 10, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi signing an agreement, to integrate the SDF into the state institutions, in the Syrian capital Damascus on March 10, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
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Syrian Government, Kurdish Officials Discuss Merging Their Armed Forces

A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi signing an agreement, to integrate the SDF into the state institutions, in the Syrian capital Damascus on March 10, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi signing an agreement, to integrate the SDF into the state institutions, in the Syrian capital Damascus on March 10, 2025. (SANA / AFP)

Government officials met Wednesday in the northeastern province of Hasakeh with the commander of the main Kurdish-led group in the country, the Syrian Democratic Forces, which is backed by the US.

The new Syrian government wants to bring Syria’s breakaway Kurdish militias back under government control, but the details of their recent breakthrough agreement are still being worked out and negotiators will have overcome a decade of civil war.

Wednesday’s meeting comes a week after Syria’s interim government signed a deal with the Kurdish-led authority that controls the country’s northeast, including a ceasefire and the merging of the SDF into the Syrian army.

The deal should be implemented by the end of the year. It would bring northeast Syria’s borders and lucrative oil fields under the central government’s control.



Egypt, Jordan and Others Call for a Halt to Israeli-Iranian Conflict 

A projectile crosses the sky above Jerusalem, 17 June 2025. (EPA)
A projectile crosses the sky above Jerusalem, 17 June 2025. (EPA)
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Egypt, Jordan and Others Call for a Halt to Israeli-Iranian Conflict 

A projectile crosses the sky above Jerusalem, 17 June 2025. (EPA)
A projectile crosses the sky above Jerusalem, 17 June 2025. (EPA)

Twenty countries denounced in a joint statement the escalating tensions in the Middle East caused by what they term Israel’s aggression against Iran and called for diplomacy and dialogue to restore stability in the region.

“There’s an imperative need to halt Israeli hostilities against Iran, which come during a time of increasing tension in the Middle East, and to work towards de-escalation, to achieve a comprehensive ceasefire and restoration of calm,” read the statement.

Foreign ministers of Algeria, Bahrain, Brunei, Chad, the Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, and Mauritania rejected finding resolution through military campaigns. Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Somalia, Sudan, Türkiye, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates also condemned the escalation.

They also highlighted the importance of clearing the region of nuclear and mass destruction weapons and called for refraining from targeting nuclear facilities and protecting maritime navigation in international waters.