Damascus pushed Kurdish integration, Abu al-Duhur and the Hassoun case into view together
Mazloum Abdi said integration is complete; the foreign minister rejected a permanent Turkish base; and former grand mufti Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun now faces a verdict on Monday.
Geopolitics··Midday
Abdi announced completion in his own statement
Syrian Democratic Forces commander Mazloum Abdi said the phase of integrating military, security and administrative institutions into Syrian state institutions is complete. Al-Monitor reports that the process rests on the January agreement between Abdi and President Ahmed al-Sharaa; government forces have taken over Hasakah and Qamishli, Qamishli airport and the main oil fields. The report adds that Noureddine Ahmed Eissa, a Kurd from Qamishli, became governor of Hasakah and that Sipan Hamo became a regional assistant defence minister. The same source says the force created with about 100,000 fighters shrank by roughly half after Arab fighters left en masse. For now, the claim that integration is complete rests on Abdi’s own statement, and the final implementation details have not been spelled out.[1]
A permanent Turkish base line was rejected for Abu al-Duhur
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said there was no plan to establish a base at Abu al-Duhur or a permanent Turkish military presence there. Al Jazeera reports that al-Shaibani said Turkish military officials had visited only for training. Turkey’s defence ministry likewise said no military delegation was present before or during the strike and that support for rebuilding Syria’s army would continue. The issue opened after Israel carried out eight strikes on the airbase runway and storage facilities near Aleppo on Tuesday; no casualties were reported. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the message delivered to Ankara had not been understood, while Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israel would not allow any entity to threaten its security.[2]
The Hassoun verdict was tied to a new transitional-justice threshold
Former grand mufti Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun is due to receive a verdict on Monday at the Fourth Criminal Court in Damascus. Al Jazeera reports that prosecutors have asked for the death penalty; the charges include inciting violence against opposition areas and civilians, threatening European countries and the residents of Idlib, supporting executions at Sednaya prison, and praising Iranian and Russian military intervention. The trial opened on June 25. The case follows death sentences handed down against Bashar al-Assad, his brother Maher al-Assad, and cousins Wassim al-Assad and Atef Najib. Damascus is therefore moving toward another transitional-justice decision while the integration and base disputes remain open around it.[3]
