In an interview with Amargi Media, Muslim expressed concern that the integration plan could, instead of enabling genuine participation, “lead to the disbandment and disarmament of local forces.”

“The goal of this form of integration is to eliminate the SDF and force us to hand over our weapons,” he said. “Without arms, we would be completely defenseless.”

Muslim highlighted the SDF’s role in combating ISIS and managing more than 50,000 ISIS members and their families held in northeast Syria’s camps. He added that Turkey’s recent halt in drone strikes was the result of “U.S. pressure and the peace process between the PKK and Turkey.”

Despite what he described as some “verbal agreements” from Damascus to preserve local forces and even allow the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) to continue operating, Muslim said full trust is lacking. “Integration must not mean our absorption. We are not going to melt into the Syrian army,” he said.

Muslim also criticized U.S. support for Syria’s new president, Ahmad al-Shar’a, arguing that “the U.S. is relying on al-Shar’a as a person, not on his ideology. They need him to counter Russia and other actors, which is why they legitimized him.”

He warned that jihadist groups previously aligned with al-Shar’a are unhappy with his political shift, raising the possibility of clashes. “Al-Shar’a will not succeed without the SDF,” he added.

Regarding Turkey’s recent change in tone toward the SDF integration plan, Muslim said: “This time Turkey has accepted the U.S. logic, which aligns with ours: integration on our terms, not integration for the purpose of elimination. But we must see how durable this stance is.”

He reiterated that the Kurds’ primary political demand remains decentralization. “Decentralization does not mean separation. The name doesn’t matter—what matters is participation in power,” he said.

Muslim cautioned that without a genuine agreement between Damascus, the Kurds, and other groups, the current process could lead to “a new phase of conflict and repression,” adding that “if no real deal is reached, al-Shar’a will use Trump’s support to impose his conditions.”