YPJ Commander Warns of Stalled Talks as March-10 Agreement Deadline Nears

By Valeria Mongelli, Tabqa, Northeast Syria,

As a year-end deadline approaches for folding the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces into a reconstituted Syrian army, the ceasefire along the Euphrates is fraying. Skirmishes have flared since mid-March, and the March 10 agreement meant to chart a path forward has yet to be implemented. In an interview at a Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) base west of Raqqa, Sozdar Hacî, a commander of the YPJ and member of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) General Command and Northeast Syria negotiating team with new Syrian government led by interim president Ahmed al Sharaa, said the talks with Damascus have produced “no steps forward” as the deadline looms.

Conflicting reports in recent days have suggested a breakthrough, only to be denied.

 On the ground, commanders describe a different reality: tense frontlines, unresolved political questions, and deep distrust of a new Syrian military structure they say is being imposed rather than negotiated. The full report and video of this interview with YPJ Commander Sozdar Hacî will be published on Sunday.

Along the Euphrates front, the military situation remains volatile. Hacî said clashes have erupted repeatedly in recent weeks as Turkish-backed and Damascus-aligned factions probe SDF positions. “They are making the situation more tense,” she said, pointing to fighting in Tishrin, Qara Quozaq village in the Kobani countryside, and Ghanem Al Ali village near Raqqa. While the fighting has eased at times, she said it has never fully stopped.

More troubling, she added, was the presence of extremist fighters among the attacking forces. “We also realized that ISIS members were participating in those clashes, specifically the Ahrar al-Sharqiya group led by Abu Hatem,” she said, echoing longstanding SDF warnings about former jihadists embedded within pro-Damascus formations.

Similar tensions have been reported farther south in Deir ez-Zor. Hacî said SDF units reinforced their positions after clashes in Shaqra and repelled attempts by opposing forces to advance toward Deir Hafir. “We responded to that and managed to push them back to their previous positions,” she said. “So in general, the situation is quite unstable.”

That instability is mirrored in negotiations with Damascus, which Hacî described as stalled and one-sided. “At this stage, I do not see them as negotiations,” she said. “What we had were just talks.” She accused the government of attempting to impose terms rather than seek compromise. “A negotiation should be a democratic process between two parties, but they are just telling us, ‘it’s like this’ and they want us to accept it.”

“A negotiation should be a democratic process between two parties, but they are just telling us, ‘it’s like this’ and they want us to accept it.”

Central to the dispute is Damascus’s demand that the SDF be dissolved and absorbed into the new army as individual fighters. “Damascus wants to dissolve the SDF and for the SDF to join the new army as individuals, not as units,” Hacî said. “They want to melt away an army that we have built over years.” She questioned the coherence of the force being formed, saying, “At the moment there’s not even a proper Syrian army. It’s mainly HTS plus different groups and factions.”

The March 10 agreement, she said, was conditional on political and institutional reforms that never materialized. “There were supposed to be institutional changes inside the new government, which was the main condition to start speaking about integration,” Hacî said. “These changes have not happened.” For the SDF, she added, the issue is inseparable from Syria’s future governance. “We are responsible for the people and society here, not only for the rights of the Kurdish people,” she said, stressing the need for “real multiethnic representation” in any new Syrian state.

The proposed structure of the new army poses a red line for the YPJ. Hacî said it “would be based on Islamic Sharia law.”

“If you are a fighter and want to join, you have to take Islamic religious lessons to join the army,” she said. “This doesn’t work with our own internal system.” Referring to recent violence against minorities, she added, “We have seen what has happened to the Alawites and the Druzes. Those were Syrians and they were killed.” As a result, she said, “now they want to build an army with that same mentality. As the YPJ, we can’t be part of this mentality. So even if the SDF joined the Syrian army, the YPJ will keep their independence.”

She further elaborated: “We agree there should only be one army in Syria, but this process should involve democratic integration,” adding: “for us, it’s not only about the military structure – we must speak about the political and institutional parts as well.”

Asked whether the YPJ would ever lay down its weapons, Hacî was unequivocal. “We are not treating war as a first option,” she said. “But we are forced to bear arms and forced to protect ourselves.” Citing the fight against ISIS, she added, “We had hundreds of martyrs and we will never leave them behind and put their weapons down.”

“We agree there should only be one army in Syria, but this process should involve democratic integration,” adding: “for us, it’s not only about the military structure – we must speak about the political and institutional parts as well.”

U.S. policy remains a key concern as Washington reduces and consolidates its troop presence in northeast Syria. Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa recently visited Washington, but Hacî said she does not view U.S. outreach to Damascus as a betrayal. “There’s no change in our relations with the U.S.,” she said, adding that troop redeployments are “normal.”

With the integration deadline approaching, Hacî said all options remain open. “The government has put forward no practical steps since the 10 March agreement,” she said, suggesting a new deadline may be needed, with Washington acting as a mediator. She defended SDF commander Mazloum Abdi for signing the agreement, saying it was intended to stabilize a country still at war. “We believe that signing the deal was not a mistake,” she said. “The problem was on their side, not our side.”

Bedirkhan Ahmed contributed to this report.