{"id":9439,"date":"2025-01-01T10:05:20","date_gmt":"2025-01-01T05:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/?p=9439"},"modified":"2025-01-01T10:05:23","modified_gmt":"2025-01-01T05:05:23","slug":"syrias-de-facto-leader-holds-talks-with-kurds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/news\/syrias-de-facto-leader-holds-talks-with-kurds\/","title":{"rendered":"Syria\u2019s de facto leader holds talks with Kurds"},"content":{"rendered":"

BEIRUT: Syria\u2019s de facto leader<\/a> Ahmed al-Sharaa has held talks with delegates of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an official said on Tuesday, adding that they had been \u201cpositive\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA meeting took place on Monday between senior officials of the Syrian Democratic Forces and Jolani in Damascus,\u201d the official said, using Sharaa\u2019s nom de guerre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as diplomatic efforts continue, Turkish-backed fighters killed three pro-Kurdish security personnel in Aleppo early Tuesday in the first such attack in Syria\u2019s second city since rebels seized power in early December, a war monitor said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA checkpoint belonging to the (Kurdish-led) Internal Security Forces in the Kurdish-majority Ashrafieh neighbourhood was attacked by Turkish-backed gunmen and explosive-laden drones, killing three security personnel and critically wounding seven,\u201d the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is the first attack of its kind in the area since the fall of the (Bashar al-Assad) regime,\u201d the Britain-based monitor added<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Damascus authorities name HTS military chief as transitional defence minister<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, Syrian authorities have appointed Maysa Sabreen as interim central bank governor, a bank official said on Tuesday, the first time a woman heads the financial establishment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe received an internal circular yesterday assigning Dr Maysa Sabreen to run the Central Bank of Syria in a caretaker capacity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Syria\u2019s new authorities also announced on Tuesday that the military chief of the religious group, Abu Qasra, 41, had been appointed defence minister in the transitional government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe General Command announces the nomination of General Murhaf Abu Qasra as defence minister in the new government of the Syrian Arab Republic,\u201d said a statement carried by the official news agency SANA<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monday\u2019s talks were Sharaa\u2019s first with Kurdish commanders since his fighters overthrew longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad in early December and come as the SDF is locked in fighting with Turkish-backed factions in northern Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The official said it was a \u201cpreliminary meeting to lay the foundations for future dialogue,\u201d adding that both sides had agreed \u201cto continue these meetings to reach future understandings\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He described the meeting as \u201cpositive\u201d and said there would be \u201cintensifying dialogue and meetings in the future\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Sunday, Sharaa told Al Arabiya TV that the Kurdish-led forces should be integrated into the new national army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWeapons must be in the hands of the state alone. Whoever is armed and qualified to join the defence ministry, we will welcome them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnder these terms and conditions, we will open a negotiations dialogue with the SDF\u2026 to perhaps find an appropriate solution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abu Qasra, 41, a former agronomist, led the armed wing of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) for five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Sunday, Abu Qasra was given the rank of general in a decree from HTS chief Ahmed al-Sharaa, now Syria\u2019s de facto leader.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BEIRUT: Syria\u2019s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa has held talks with delegates of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an official said on Tuesday, adding that they had been \u201cpositive\u201d. \u201cA meeting took place on Monday between senior officials of the Syrian Democratic Forces and Jolani in Damascus,\u201d the official said, using Sharaa\u2019s nom de guerre. But […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":9440,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[396,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9439"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}