Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa has said the campaign to reunify the country after years of civil war should not be waged by force, but by integration.
“We still have another battle ahead of us to unify Syria, and it should not be with blood and military force,” he said.
Mr Sharaa’s remarks were aimed at separatist groups in the southern majority Druze Sweida province which have enlisted support from Israel in their confrontation with Damascus.
Thousands joined a protest in Sweida on Saturday, demanding self-determination and raising Israeli flags. They praised Israel’s air strikes, which came after hundreds of people were killed in Druze clashes with Bedouin fighters and troops last month. The strikes forced Syrian army units to retreat.
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Mr Sharaa added: “I do not see Syria as at risk of division. Some people desire a process of dividing Syria and trying to establish cantons,” he said, adding that he regarded this as “impossible”.
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Mr Sharaa has mustered loyalist forces in northwestern Idlib province to force the Kurd-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to put its fighters under the control of the Syrian defence ministry. This move was agreed in March but has not been implemented. The US Syrian envoy Tom Barrack expressed concern last month over the delay and urged speedy integration.
The Kurds rule 25 per cent of Syrian territory in the northeast, where they have clashed with both government and Turkish-supported Syrian forces. Turkey regards the SDF as a “terrorist” organisation due to its ties to Turkish Kurdish insurgents. The US backed the SDF in its 2014-2019 battle with Islamic State.
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Mr Sharaa said Ankara and Washington both seek peaceful reintegration of the oil-rich region.
The president’s interim government last month established a committee to investigate and report on attacks on Druze civilians which killed nearly 600 people, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory of Human Rights (SOHR).
Syria has been plagued with sectarian violence since the ousting of the Assad regime in December 2024. The violence began with attacks on the Alawite community which, according to the SOHR, resulted in the deaths of 1,400 people in the western coastal area of Latakia during March and April.
