Syria's new authorities said Tuesday that armed groups in the country agreed to dissolve and be integrated into the Defense Ministry.
A statement said the decision followed a meeting between leaders of the armed groups and Ahmad al-Sharaa, who led the rebel advance that pushed longtime leader Bashar al-Assad from power.
Sharaa has said the new authorities will "absolutely not allow there to be weapons in the country outside state control." That applies to Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, he said.
The question of SDF's integration in the Syrian army "should be discussed directly," SDF spokesman Farhad Shami told AFP on Tuesday, adding that doing so would strengthen "the whole of Syria."
His forces, he said, would prefer "dialogue with Damascus to resolve all questions."
Sharaa's forces seized control of Syria's capital December 8 after a lightning advance that saw them claim several key cities in a matter of days after many years of relative stalemate in the country's 13-year civil war.
Since Assad's ouster, governments throughout the region have sent envoys to Damascus amid questions about Syria's political future and concerns about additional instability in the region.
One concern is the potential resurgence of the Islamic State militant group, which seized areas of eastern Syria in 2014 and western Iraq before losing much of that territory.
The U.S. military said Monday it carried out an airstrike that killed two Islamic State militants in eastern Syria's Deir el-Zour province. [changed to AP spelling]
U.S. Central Command said in a statement that the militants were "moving a truckload of weapons, which were destroyed during the strike."
On Tuesday, the Turkish transport minister said Turkey is seeking to strike a maritime demarcation agreement with Syria after a permanent government is formed in Syria.
"Of course an authority must first be established there," Abdulkadir Uraloglu, the minister, said. "It will be on our agenda for sure, but it's hard to say that it's on today's agenda."
And in Egypt, Syrian refugees and residents are facing uncertainty as new regulations put into question their right to remain in the country following the fall of the Assad government in Syria.
Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
