Arabic version: سوريا تعيّن القائد السابق لقسد مستشاراً رئاسياً

According to Al Jazeera, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has appointed Mazloum Abdi, leader of the now-dissolved Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, as a presidential adviser. The appointment was made under Decree No 164, which named Abdi “as an advisor to the Presidency of the Republic”, Syrian state news agency Sana reported.

The move came three days after Abdi announced the dissolution of the SDF and the completion of its integration with the Syrian military. Abdi is the most senior among several Kurdish figures appointed to state positions. Earlier this year, another commander was named assistant defence minister for the eastern region.

The advisory position is less senior than a proposal made in January, when al-Sharaa offered to make Abdi deputy defence minister and nominate him as governor of Hasakah province. The proposal was linked to restoring state control over the provincial capital, which had been controlled by the SDF.

Al-Sharaa and Abdi first agreed in March 2025 to incorporate the SDF into the central government. Progress on that agreement was limited before its year-end deadline. In January, state forces fought into northeastern Syria and took Raqqa and Deir Az Zor from the SDF. A ceasefire subsequently put Raqqa, Deir Az Zor and Hasakah under central government control and committed the SDF to enter the defence and interior ministries through a 14-point plan.

The Kurdish-led YPJ women’s units have yet to be absorbed. They asked to join the defence ministry but were told that the army’s structure has no units for women. In January, al-Sharaa also issued a decree recognising Kurdish as a national language and restoring citizenship to Syria’s Kurds, described as the first formal recognition of Kurdish rights since Syria’s independence in 1946. The SDF had been the largest force outside the army, and its dissolution gives Damascus formal authority over almost all Syrian territory.