A Syrian Kurdish leader has said that there is a “real risk” of a new war breaking out in Syria, saying that a January 29 agreement with the Syrian government had not been implemented.

Ilham Ahmed, the Co-Chair of the Foreign Affairs Department of the Autonomous Administration of Northeastern Syria (AANES), told Rohani TV that “the language of hate” used by parts of Syrian society had hindered the implementation of the agreement.

She said that work is ongoing to restructure brigades of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), but added that women’s participation in parts of the Syrian government remained limited, and that they had to participate in all fields.

Under the agreement the SDF, which are affiliated with AANES, will be reconstituted into four brigades affiliated with the Syrian military, while Kurdish security forces will be integrated with those of the government, and Interior Ministry security forces will enter the SDF-held cities of Hasakah and Qamishli.

AANES governing institutions will also be integrated into those of the Syrian state.

However, Ahmed claimed that Turkey, a key backer of the Syrian government, was playing a negative role and did not want a solution.

“The Turkish state has repeatedly pushed the region toward war,” she said, while also accusing authorities in Damascus of “not wanting Syrian Kurds to have an active presence in state institutions.”

An earlier agreement between the Syrian government and the SDF, signed in March 2025, broke down last January, with the government accusing the group of repeatedly stalling its integration into state institutions.

Fighting broke out and government forces captured most of the areas once held by the Kurdish-held SDF, including the Arab-majority cities of Tabqa and Raqqa and Kurdish areas of Aleppo.

Ahmed said that she had recently met Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani at the Munich Security Conference in Germany and that they had agreed on further meetings. She also said she had met recently with US officials.

The US backed the SDF when it fought against the Islamic State extremist group during the Syrian conflict, but recently switched support to the Syrian government led by President Ahmed Al-Sharaa.

However, two members of the US Senate – Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal – have introduced a “Save the Kurds” bill following the government advances, which Ahmed expressed support for.

Amid the conflict with the SDF, Sharaa signed a decree granting citizenship to Kurds who had been deprived of it and recognising Kurdish as a national language, in moves unprecedented in Syria.

However, Syrian Kurds have said this doesn’t go far enough and that guarantees of Kurdish rights need to be included in the country’s constitution.