Mazloum Abdi joins Syria's presidency as Visa returns to Damascus
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa appointed former SDF commander Mazloum Abdi as an adviser. In the same week, a filmed Visa payment and the end of Syria's US terrorism designation made Damascus's political and financial re-entry visible. The YPJ remains outside the army arrangement, while correspondent banking can resume under continuing anti-money-laundering scrutiny and targeted sanctions.
Geopolitics··Morning
From the SDF to the presidency
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa appointed Mazloum Abdi, commander of the dissolved Syrian Democratic Forces, as a presidential adviser under Decree No 164. The appointment came three days after Abdi said the SDF had disbanded and completed its integration into the Syrian army. The role is narrower than the deputy defence ministry and Hasakah governorship offered in January. Even so, Abdi becomes the most senior Kurdish figure given a state post, while Damascus gains formal authority over almost all Syrian territory.[1]
From a coffee payment to banking links
An official government account showed al-Sharaa and central bank governor Mohammed Safwat Raslan paying with a Visa card at a cafe in Damascus's Old City. The demonstration followed the US State Department's removal of Syria from the state-sponsor-of-terrorism list, where it had remained since 1979. That change eases a practical barrier to transactions: the US Treasury has confirmed that American financial institutions may serve Syrian clients, process payments involving Syrian banks and establish correspondent banking relationships.[2]
What remains outside the arrangement
The new arrangements still have clear limits. The YPJ, the SDF's women's units, asked to join the defence ministry but was told that the army has no units for women, leaving it outside the military settlement. Financial opening is also incomplete. Measures remain against Bashar al-Assad's associates, people accused of human-rights abuses and captagon traffickers. Syria also remains on the Financial Action Task Force grey list amid money-laundering concerns, sustaining scrutiny even as payment and banking channels reopen.[1], [2]
