Damascus announced on Tuesday the appointment of prominent Kurdish military leader Siban Hammou as an assistant to the Minister of Defense for the Eastern Region. This decision implements an agreement that ended military confrontations between Kurdish factions and Syrian forces at the end of January.Asem Galioun, director of the Media and Communication Department at the Ministry of Defense, as reported by official media, stated that "Siban Hammou has been appointed as an assistant to the Minister of Defense for the Eastern Region in the Syrian Arab Republic."Hammou, who is considered one of the most prominent Kurdish military commanders and participated in negotiations with Damascus, led the People's Protection Units (YPG), which formed the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). These forces bravely resisted the Islamic State (ISIS) until they drove it out of its last strongholds in Syria in 2019.A native of the Afrin region (north), Hammou is also a member of the Syrian Democratic Forces' leadership. He played a key role in negotiations with Damascus, which, after weeks of military escalation, led to the signing of an agreement in January. The agreement stipulates the gradual integration of the autonomous administration's civilian and military institutions into the framework of the Syrian state.The agreement allowed the Kurds, who had retreated to areas with a Kurdish majority in Hasakah province (northeast), to nominate candidates for the positions of Assistant Minister of Defense and Governor of Hasakah.In February, President Ahmad al-Sharaa issued a presidential decree appointing Nureddin Ahmad Issa, a Kurd from the city of Qamishli, as the governor of Hasakah.The agreement also provides for the formation of a military brigade comprising three brigades of the Syrian Democratic Forces within the Syrian army in the northeast of the country, and the formation of another brigade for the Kobani (Ayn al-Arab) forces.
