Syria withdraws from Paris talks on integrating Kurds
Syria will not take part in Paris talks on incorporating the Kurdish semi-autonomous administration into the Syrian state, a Syrian government official said Saturday. The decision comes a day after the Kurdish administration, which governs large parts of the north and northeast, hosted a conference involving several Syrian minority communities.Issued on: 09/08/2025
A Syrian government official said Saturday that authorities would not participate in planned talks in Paris on integrating the Kurdish semi-autonomous administration into the Syrian state and demanded future negotiations be held in Damascus.
The move came a day after the Kurdish administration, which controls swathes of the north and northeast, held a conference involving several Syrian minority communities, the first such event since Islamists overthrew longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December.
Participants included the head of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) Mazloum Abdi, who on March 10 signed a deal with President Ahmed al-Sharaa to integrate the Kurds' civil and military institutions into the state.
The conference's final statement called for "a democratic constitution that... establishes a decentralised state", guaranteeing the participation of all components of Syrian society.
Damascus has previously rejected calls for decentralisation.
"This conference was a blow to current negotiating efforts, and based on this, (the government) will not participate in any meetings scheduled in Paris," state news agency SANA quoted an unidentified government official as saying.
The government "calls on international mediators to move all negotiations to Damascus, as this is the legitimate, national location for dialogue among Syrians", the official said.
Late last month, Syria, France and the United States said they agreed to convene talks in Paris "as soon as possible" on implementing the March 10 agreement.
Recent sectarian clashes in south Syria's Druze-majority Sweida province and massacres of the Alawite community on Syria's coast in March have deepened Kurdish concerns as progress on negotiations with Damascus has largely stalled.
The event also saw video addresses from an influential spiritual leader of Syria's Druze community in the country's south, Hikmat al-Hijri, and from prominent Alawite spiritual leader Ghazal Ghazal.
Damascus has strongly criticised Hijri after he called last month for international protection for the Druze and appealed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for assistance during the sectarian clashes.
The government will not "sit at the negotiating table with any party that seeks to revive the era of the former regime under any cover", the official told SANA, condemning the hosting of "separatist figures involved in hostile acts".
"The government sees the conference as an attempt to internationalise Syrian affairs" and invite foreign interference, the official added.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
The three leading sheikhs of the Druze community in Syria’s Suwayda province have issued statements taking a clear stance against the Turkish-backed Damascus government in a sign of worsening tensions.
Sheikhs Yusuf al-Jarbou and Hammoud al-Hanawi have now aligned themselves with the position long held by Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, as reported by Enab Baladi on August 10.
The three sheikhs—al-Hijri, al-Jarbou, and al-Hanawi—are the top spiritual leaders of the Druze in Suwayda. While al-Hijri has consistently been critical of Damascus during the recent unrest, Jarbou has fluctuated between cooperation with and condemnation of the government, and Hanawi had remained silent until now.
At least 1,013 people were killed amid violent clashes in Suwayda in mid-July, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights. Local factions, government forces, tribal fighters, and Bedouin groups were involved in the clashes, with Israel intervening militarily against Syrian government forces.
In a video statement released by the Spiritual Leadership of the Druze Community on August 9, al-Hijri, the most outspoken critic of Damascus, said, “Suwayda has witnessed in recent days a series of crimes that can only be described as systematic genocide carried out in cold blood.”
He described a “suffocating siege lasting weeks, including the cutting of water, electricity, and food, in an attempt to break the will of an unbreakable people.”
“What happened is not isolated incidents but a silent plan of extermination carried out in full view of the world,” al-Hijri said, calling the use of starvation against civilians “not just a violation, but a war crime.” He denounced “propaganda campaigns led by official media and channels supportive of the de facto government.”
Israel has said its intervention was to protect the Druze, citing strikes against government forces near Suwayda and targeting Syria’s Defence Ministry headquarters and the presidential palace in Damascus.
Al-Hijri expressed gratitude to countries “that refused to remain silent, first and foremost the US,” adding, “We value the positions of states that stood by the oppressed, foremost among them President Trump.”
He also praised “the position of Israel, its government, and its people for its humanitarian intervention to reduce massacres against the people of Suwayda out of moral and humanitarian duty.”
Al-Hijri called on the UN Security Council to “act immediately and open an independent international investigation into the crimes committed in Suwayda,” urging the prosecution of those responsible at the International Criminal Court and the deployment of international monitoring missions to protect civilians.
Sheikh Hammoud al-Hanawi said in his video statement on August 9, “There is no covenant and no pact between Suwayda and the government in Damascus,” marking a clear break from his earlier stance.
“We have been afflicted with an authority with no honour, that sold the homeland and betrayed its people before betraying its borders, an authority that has been a drawn sword against innocent civilians with extremist ideas that permit the spilling of blood,” Hanawi declared.
Sheikh Yusuf al-Jarbou echoed these sentiments in a parallel statement: “We stand today to see the consequences of this aggression, which came under the pretext of ‘asserting state control’ but in reality provided cover and protection for an ‘army of Tatars’ who corrupted the land and killed unarmed civilians without justification.”
He described these acts as “sectarian barbarity” amounting to “an attempt at systematic ethnic cleansing.” He called them “a true betrayal of the Syrian people as a whole, stripping this clique of any legitimacy to rule the state.”
Jarbou held “the states that supported this clique (the Syrian government) responsible” and urged them to change course, thanking the Druze spiritual leader in Israel, Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, for his support.
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