Setting up national armed forces is a priority for Syria’s new leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa – who has abandoned his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani – in his bid to build a new state. Since the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) seized power in Damascus on December 8, he has been negotiating with the myriad armed factions in the north and south of the country that participated in the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime to bring all weapons under state authority and stop the actions of undisciplined factions.
On Tuesday, December 24, the new Syrian authorities announced an agreement with “all armed groups” for their dissolution, specifying that they would be integrated into the Ministry of Defense. This agreement does not concern the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), anchored in the northeast of the country. In the absence of an agreement with the SDF, Turkey-backed Arab factions within the Syrian National Army (SNA) are reluctant to lay down their arms, even though they are on the offensive against Kurdish forces. There is also the question of foreign jihadists who gravitate toward HTS.
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