Syria says ex-rebel groups agree to integrate under Defence Ministry

De facto Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa says factions agreed to disband following a meeting with the heads of the groups.

Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa has reached an agreement with rebel factions to come together as one force under the Defence Ministry, according to the new Syrian general administration.

A meeting between al-Sharaa and the heads of the groups “ended in an agreement on the dissolution of all the groups and their integration under the supervision of the ministry of defence”, said a statement by the new administration on Tuesday.

However, the Kurdish-led and United States-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) group in northeastern Syria is not part of the deal just announced.

Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir had said last week that the ministry would be restructured using former rebel factions and officers who defected from Bashar al-Assad’s army.

“Since the fall of the Assad regime, this is perhaps the most important development that has happened in Syria,” said Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar, reporting from Damascus. He explained that immediately after the fall of al-Assad’s regime, opposition fighters from across the country streamed into Damascus, with some of them claiming different territories of the capital.

“The main fear was how these groups that had been fighting against the regime during the course of 13 years of the civil war – groups that are heavily armed – how they are going to merge and unite,” Serdar said.

“After talks and talks, several sessions and meetings … now Ahmed al-Sharaa, the de facto leader of Syria who is also the leader of HTS – the most dominant military and political power in Syria – is saying that all the armed groups have decided to merge under the Ministry of Defence; that is quite a remarkable development.”

‘Lift sanctions’

Following a sweeping offensive over two weeks ago that catapulted Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) into power in Damascus, the country’s new rulers appointed Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the rebellion that toppled al-Assad, as defence minister in the interim government.

Al-Sharaa had previously promised that all weapons in the country, including those held by Kurdish-led forces, would come under state control.

He has sought to reassure Western officials visiting him that HTS, a former al-Qaeda affiliate, will neither seek revenge against the former regime nor repress any religious minority. He said his primary focus is on reconstruction and achieving economic development and that he is not interested in engaging in any new conflicts.

Syrian opposition fighters seized control of Damascus on December 8, forcing al-Assad to flee after more than 13 years of war, ending his family’s decades-long rule.

Forces under the command of al-Sharaa have installed a three-month caretaker government.

Qatar on Tuesday called for the swift removal of sanctions on Syria, a day after a high-level Qatari delegation visited Damascus, marking a turning point in relations. The Qatari embassy in the Syrian capital reopened on Sunday, ending a 13-year diplomatic rift between the two nations.

“Qatar’s position is clear,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari stated. “It’s necessary to lift the sanctions quickly, given that what led to these sanctions is no longer there and that what led to these sanctions were the crimes of the former regime.”