Latest news with #SDF-Damascus
Rudaw Net
04-07-2025
- Business
- Rudaw Net
Turkey-Syria trade ramps up by 60 percent: Turkish diplomat
Also in Syria Syria unveils new national emblem SDF chief, US envoy meeting to 'accelerate' SDF-Damascus deal: Kurdish-led council 2000 ISIS militants active in Syria's desert: Brigade spox Turkey demolishes historic military base amid peace talks with PKK A+ A- ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Trade between Turkey and Syria has increased by 60 percent since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in December, the head of Ankara's mission in Damascus told Rudaw on Friday. Relations between the neighbouring countries are developing in all fields, Burhan Koroglu, Turkey's Damascus chargé d'affaires, said on the sidelines of an international fair in the Syrian capital. "We are now in a new phase of Syria's history, the new Syria, which needs development in all fields, such as reconstruction and industries. As a neighboring and sister country to Syria, we want to contribute to the country's new beginning and join hands with our Syrian brothers to develop these industries together," he said, adding that the volume of trade between the two has increased by nearly 60 percent in the past half a year. The fair features Turkish companies specializing in textile supplies and machinery. One Syrian business owner told Rudaw that his company trades in 'all cotton fabrics, in which Syria was previously a leader. We specialize in all types." Damascus has hosted several business and industry exhibitions as the country looks to revive its economy after years of dictatorship, conflict, and international sanctions.
Rudaw Net
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Rudaw Net
Syria unveils new national emblem
Also in Syria SDF chief, US envoy meeting to 'accelerate' SDF-Damascus deal: Kurdish-led council 2000 ISIS militants active in Syria's desert: Brigade spox Turkey demolishes historic military base amid peace talks with PKK US-backed forces to launch anti-ISIS operation in Syria: Brigade spox A+ A- DAMASCUS - The Syrian interim government on Thursday unveiled a redesigned eagle as the new national emblem that President Ahmed al-Sharaa said represents a Syria that "does not accept division." "Our great people, the identity we are launching today represents a Syria that does not accept division and fragmentation, that is one and united from north to south and from east to west, and whose cultural and ethnic diversity is a factor of enrichment and wealth, not division or conflict," Sharaa said in a speech at an event at the People's Palace in Damascus, attended by government officials and representatives of foreign missions. The new symbol "represents building the Syrian person and establishing the Syrian personality, who has been accustomed to migration and distance from the homeland in search of security and a hopeful future. Therefore, we restore their faith, dignity, and natural place inside and outside the country, so that the Syrian person becomes an active citizen in their homeland,' he added. The national emblem of Syria is a golden eagle turned to its right, with three five-pointed stars forming an arc above its head. Its wings feature 14 feathers, representing Syria's 14 provinces. The design of identity cards, passports, and currency will be updated with the new state emblem. Design of the symbol took nearly seven months and involved the participation of a number of designers and artists from inside and outside Syria. "We feel like our country has been created for the first time. The past has become part of the present we are in, and part of what we can now do with the strength of all the Syrian people, and with the strength of the team that worked on it," Malek al-Omari, advisor to the Ministry of Social Affairs, told Rudaw. Aisha al-Dibis is the director of the Women's Affairs Office in the Political Affairs Administration. She told Rudaw that she witnessed "the birth of a new freedom' with the unveiling of the eagle.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Erdogan says Kurdish SDF 'stalling' despite integration deal with Damascus
ANKARA (Reuters) -Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said the Kurdish-dominated and U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were using "stalling tactics" despite an agreement with the new Syrian government for the group's integration into Syrian armed forces. Speaking to reporters on a flight from Azerbaijan, Erdogan repeated Turkey's position that Syria's unity and territorial integrity must be preserved, saying the SDF-Damascus deal must be implemented in the agreed and planned timeline. "We had said before we welcomed the agreement. But we see that the Syrian Democratic Forces are still continuing their stalling tactics. They must stop this," he was cited as saying by his office on Thursday.
Rudaw Net
14-04-2025
- Politics
- Rudaw Net
SDF to hand over 200 Iraqi ISIS members to Baghdad
Also in Syria Intra-Kurdish conference to be held in Rojava Friday SDF, Syrian forces begin joint oversight of Kurdish-majority neighborhoods in Aleppo SDF-Damascus deal vital for Syria's future: Rojava's US rep Syria needs sanctions lifted for economic recovery: former UN official A+ A- ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Baghdad is set to receive 200 Iraqi nationals affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIS) from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), along with three separate batches of the group's family members. Rudaw has learned that the handover agreement was signed on January 11 in the presence of two officers from the US-led coalition against ISIS. Iraq's migration and displaced ministry and the Nineveh Provincial Council both confirmed the agreement but clarified that the matter falls outside their jurisdictions. 'We are aware of such an agreement, but we have no information about whether these wanted individuals have been handed over. This issue is not under our ministry's purview and lies with other authorities,' Ali Abbas, spokesperson for the migration and displaced ministry, told Rudaw on Monday. Mohammed Kakayi, head of the security committee in the Nineveh Provincial Council, stated that the detainees would be repatriated directly to Baghdad and would not pass through Mosul. 'This matter falls under the authority of the Iraqi intelligence agency. The ISIS fighters are handed over directly to them,' he explained. Thousands of individuals with suspected ISIS ties are held in SDF-controlled al-Hol and Roj camps in northeast Syria's (Rojava) Hasaka province. Al-Hol is the larger of the two, currently housing 34,927 ISIS-linked individuals. Of these, 15,681 are Iraqis, 15,861 are Syrians, and 6,385 are foreigners, according to data obtained by Rudaw English from Sheikhmous Ahmed, supervisor of refugee and IDP camps in northeast Syria. The families are typically transferred to al-Jada camp south of Mosul, where they undergo rehabilitation and reintegration programs supervised by the Iraqi migration and displaced ministry. However, the 200 detainees set to be transferred in this instance are ISIS fighters specifically requested by Baghdad due to their direct involvement in attacks against Iraqi civilians and security forces. Since 2014, thousands of individuals have been detained across Iraq for alleged links to ISIS. Hundreds have been executed. Human rights groups have criticized the judicial process, citing forced confessions, a lack of investigation into specific crimes such as genocide, and the exclusion of victims from the proceedings. ISIS captured vast swathes of northern and central Iraq in 2014, but the group's so-called caliphate was dismantled in 2017 after Iraqi and Kurdish forces, with support from a US.-led international coalition, retook the territory. Hastyar Qadir contributed to this report.
Rudaw Net
13-04-2025
- Politics
- Rudaw Net
SDF, Syrian forces begin joint oversight of Kurdish-majority neighborhoods in Aleppo
Also in Syria SDF-Damascus deal vital for Syria's future: Rojava's US rep Syria needs sanctions lifted for economic recovery: former UN official SDF chief, gov't envoy discuss implementing SDF-Damascus deal Syrian Kurds in talks with Damascus over future of key dam A+ A- ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Damascus-aligned forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Sunday began to jointly manage security in Kurdish-majority neighbourhoods of northern Aleppo, marking a significant step in a wider deal to integrate the Kurdish-led force into Syria's state institutions. The coordinated effort saw the two sides begin 'removing barriers and checkpoints on the streets of the two [Kurdish majority] neighborhoods' of Sheikh Maqsood and Ashrafiyeh, as well as 'other neighborhoods across Aleppo,' according to the SDF-affiliated Hawar News Agency. The development follows a 14-point agreement signed in early April between the Syrian leadership and the SDF. The deal covers a prisoner swap and outlines a framework for joint security oversight in Aleppo, including in Kurdish-majority neighborhoods that were previously under the control of the People's Protection Units (YPG). The YPG, which represents the backbone of the SDF, has begun withdrawing from the area in accordance with the deal. Two groups of YPG fighters, 400 on April 4 and another 500 on April 9, have reportedly exited the neighborhoods. The deal has also facilitated the exchange of 243 detainees from both sides. Notably, the April agreement builds on a landmark deal signed in early March between Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and SDF chief Mazloum Abdi signed to 'integrate all civil and military institutions in northeast Syria [Rojava] under the administration of the Syrian state, including border crossings, the [Qamishli International] Airport, and oil and gas fields.' The agreement emphasizes that 'the Kurdish community is indigenous to the Syrian state, which ensures this community's right to citizenship and all of its constitutional rights.' It further calls to implement a ceasefire across all Syrian territories and ensure the return of all displaced Syrians to their towns and villages.
