2026-04-21T20:09:53+00:00

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Shafaq News- Hasakah

The Syrian government and the
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) failed to reach an agreement on the judiciary
file in Hasakah province, following a visit by a delegation from the Syrian
Ministry of Justice over the past two days to Hasakah and Qamishli to take over
the province’s courts.

Shafaq News correspondent cited a
judge within the Autonomous Administration who said the Syrian government
proposed handing over the judicial complex in Qamishli and Hasakah to staff and
judges from the era of former President Bashar al-Assad, with the integration
of Autonomous Administration judges and employees to be discussed at a later
stage.

“This proposal led to the
collapse of the talks,” he stressed, arguing that any integration process should
include a clear mechanism for incorporating judiciary personnel into the Syrian
Ministry of Justice without exclusion of judges and lawyers who previously
refused to work within Assad-era institutions.

In contrast, Ahmed Al-Hilali,
spokesperson for the presidential team tasked with implementing the January 29
agreement with the SDF, told the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) that the
delegation went to Qamishli following the handover of the judicial palace in
Hasakah. “The team was surprised that
those present in the courthouse refused to hand over the building and prevented
judges from returning to work without justification,” he added, describing the
move as an escalation that increases the suffering of residents.

Al-Hilali said that despite
attempts by some legal figures within the SDF to resolve obstacles, these
efforts did not lead to results, as other parties insisted on postponing the
issue indefinitely, making it difficult to set a clear timetable at this stage. He affirmed that the Ministry of
Justice is “a sovereign institution and cannot operate outside a unified
framework across Syrian territory,” emphasizing that the principle of “one law,
one army, one flag, and one state” forms the basis of the agreement.

“There is no alternative to the
January agreement, which stipulates the handover of state facilities to the
government and the integration of SDF institutions into Syrian state structures,”
he concluded.

Earlier, a government delegation
headed by Deputy Public Prosecutor Hassan Al-Turba arrived in Hasakah and met
with Governor Nour al-Din Ahmed, in the presence of the presidential team, to
discuss restarting the judicial palace and activating judicial institutions in
the region.

The delegation also took control
of Ghweiran prison in Hasakah and announced measures to regulate its operations
and link it to the judicial system, as part of broader efforts to reactivate
legal institutions in the province, according to the Hasakah Media Directorate.

In January, the Syrian government and the SDF reached a comprehensive ceasefire agreement that
includes the gradual integration of military structures between the two sides.
The deal also provides for integrating Autonomous Administration institutions
into state structures, retaining civil employees, settling civil and
educational rights for the Kurdish community, and facilitating the return of
displaced residents to their hometowns.