Former SDF leader Mazloum Abdi appointed adviser to President Ahmed al-Sharaa

President Ahmed al-Sharaa announced on Thursday that former Syrian Democratic Forces commander Mazloum Abdi will serve as a presidential adviser. The SDF, which had fought ISIS and opposed Bashar Assad, officially dissolved on Tuesday and signed an integration pact with the Syrian army in March 2025. The agreement restored citizenship to many Kurds, guaranteed stronger Kurdish rights, recognized Kurdish as an official language and made Nowruz a national holiday.

The education ministry will teach Kurdish three days a week in Kurdish-majority areas during a transitional period. Alongside Abdi, former YPG commander Sipan Hamo became deputy defense minister and former SDF foreign-affairs co-chair Ilham Ahmed is slated for a parliamentary seat. Turkey’s Anadolu Agency labeled Abdi a former “ringleader” of a terrorist group, while the Turkish opposition DEM Party urged a visit to Turkey to advance Kurdish reconciliation.