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Historic Agreement to Integrate Security Forces in Sweida
The Syrian government has reached an agreement with the people and notables of Sweida province aimed at fully integrating the province into the Syrian state institutions.
According to sources from "Sky News Arabia," the agreement includes a set of key conditions, the most notable being the incorporation of the security agencies in Sweida into the Syrian Ministry of Interior. The agreement also stipulates that local police officers must be from the province.
As part of these efforts, the agreement also calls for the Syrian government to appoint a governor and a police chief in Sweida, with the stipulation that they do not necessarily need to be from the province.
This agreement represents a part of a broader effort to integrate areas of southern and northeastern Syria into the Syrian system and comes at a sensitive time when the country is witnessing security and political developments.
It is worth noting that this agreement came just one day after transitional President Ahmad al-Shara and the commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, Mazloum Abdi, signed an agreement to integrate all civil and military institutions affiliated with the Kurdish self-administration into the Syrian state, as announced by the presidency.
The provisions to be implemented immediately include the return of governmental institutions to areas in northeastern Syria, particularly immigration, passport, and civil registry departments, along with the handover of border crossings with Iraq and Turkey to the new government, and the return of displaced individuals to areas such as Afrin, Tal Abyad, and Ras al-Ain, where their number exceeds 300,000.
The agreement also stipulates "supporting the Syrian state in its fight against remnants of the Assad regime and all threats affecting its security and unity," emphasizing that "the Kurdish community is an integral part of the Syrian state, which guarantees its constitutional rights and citizenship." This comes alongside a "rejection of calls for division, hate speech, and attempts to incite strife among the components of Syrian society."
Under the agreement, executive committees are required to work on its implementation "by no later than the end of this year."
