Washington has voiced support for a plan by Damascus to incorporate thousands of foreign Islamist fighters, many of whom fought the former regime, into the ranks of Syria’s reconstituted military apparatus.
When asked on June 2 whether Washington supported the plan, Thomas Barrack, U.S. ambassador to Turkey and special envoy for Syria, responded in the affirmative but said the plan should be carried out “with transparency.”
Barrack said it was better to include foreign fighters in Syria’s state-run military apparatus, stressing that most of them were “very loyal” to the new leadership in Damascus.
Last December, the long-ruling regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was toppled by a Turkey-backed rebel offensive. The offensive was led by Hezb Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a terrorist group with former links to al-Qaeda.
Syria’s new HTS-led leadership has sought to consolidate political authority and bring the country’s disparate armed factions under state control.
The United States had initially called for the exclusion of non-Syrian Islamist fighters from the country’s post-Assad national army.
It has changed its stance since mid-May, when U.S. President Donald Trump visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, all staunch supporters of Syria’s new leadership.
Sharaa has previously said that some foreign fighters—and their families—could be granted Syrian citizenship for their role in fighting the former regime.
Kurdish Fighters
In March, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led armed group backed by Washington, signed a deal with Damascus to incorporate its fighters into the Syrian national army.Established in 2015 to combat the ISIS terrorist group, the U.S.-backed SDF currently controls much of northeastern Syria.

Last month, however, NATO member Turkey, which views the Kurdish-led SDF as a terrorist group, said the deal with Damascus had yet to be implemented.
“In order for stability to be achieved in Syria, there must be a comprehensive government, a single legitimate armed force,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on May 15.
Last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the SDF of using “stalling tactics” to avoid implementation of the deal with Damascus.
“We had said before we welcomed the agreement,” Erdogan said in a May 29 statement released by his office. “But we see that the Syrian Democratic Forces are still continuing their stalling tactics. They must stop this.”
In a significant shift the following day, SDF commander Mazloum Abdi said his group was in “direct” contact with Ankara in hopes of improving relations with Turkey.
“We have direct ties, direct channels of communication with Turkey ... and we hope that these ties are developed,” Abdi said in televised remarks.
On June 2, Barrack said Washington was pursuing efforts aimed at integrating the U.S.-backed SDF into the Syrian military.
He added that pressure was mounting to implement the agreement with Damascus to merge SDF fighters into Syria’s national army.
Without cooperation, Barrack said, the U.S. military presence in northeastern Syria—roughly 2,000 troops—could be further reduced.