Syria’s defense minister said Wednesday that Damascus was open to talks with Kurdish-led forces on their integration into the national army but stood ready to use force should negotiations fail.“The door to negotiation with the (Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces) is currently open,” Murhaf Abu Qasra told reporters.“If we have to use force, we will be ready.”For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Last month, an official told AFP that an SDF delegation had met Syria’s interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, who heads the “Hayat Tahrir al-Sham” (HTS) group that spearheaded the opposition offensive that ousted Bashar al-Assad.Al-Sharaa had told Al Arabiya that Kurdish-led forces should be integrated into the new national army so that weapons are “in the hands of the state alone.”The US-backed SDF spearheaded the military campaign that ousted ISIS from its last territory in Syria in 2019.The group controls much of the oil-producing northeast, where it