BEIRUT: Syria`s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa has held talks with delegates of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an official said on Tuesday, adding that they had been `positive`.

`A meeting took place on Monday between senior officials of the Syrian Democratic Forces and Jolani in Damascus,` the official said, using Sharaa`s nom de guerre.

But as diplomatic efforts continue, Turkish-backed fighters killed three pro-Kurdish security personnel in Aleppo early Tuesday in the first such attack in Syria`s second city since rebels seized power in early December, a war monitor said.

`A checkpoint belonging to the (Kurdish-led) Internal Security Forces in the Kurdish-majority Ashrafieh neighbourhood was attacked by Turkish-backed gunmen and explosive-laden drones, killing three security personneland critically wounding seven,` the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

`This is the first attack of its kind in the area since the fall of the (Bashar al-Assad) regime,` the Britain-based monitor added Moreover, Syrian authorities have appointed Maysa Sabreen as interim central bank governor, a bank official said on Tuesday, the first time a woman heads the financial establishment.

`We received an internal circular yesterday assigning Dr Maysa Sabreen to run the Central Bank of Syria in a caretaker capacity,` he said. Syria`s new authorities also announced on Tuesday that the military chief of the religious group, Abu Qasra, 41, had been appointed defence minister in the transitional government.

`The General Command announces the nomination of General Murhaf Abu Qasra as defence minister in the new government of the Syrian Arab Republic, said a statement carried by the official news agency SANA.

Monday`s talks were Sharaa`s first with Kurdish commanders since his fighters overthrew longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad inearly December and come as the SDF is locked in fighting with Turkish-backed factions in northern Syria.

The official said it was a `preliminary meeting to lay the foundations for future dialogue,` adding that both sides had agreed `to continue these meetings to reach future understandings`. He described the meeting as `positive` and said there would be `intensifying dialogue and meetings in the future`.

On Sunday, Sharaa told Al Arabiya TV that the Kurdish-led forces should be integrated into the new national army.

`Weapons must be in the hands of the state alone. Whoever is armed and qualified to join the defence ministry, we will welcome them,` he said. `Under these terms and conditions, we will open a negotiations dialogue with the SDF... to perhaps find an appropriate solution.

Abu Qasra, 41, a former agronomist, led the armed wing of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) for five years.

On Sunday, Abu Q asra was given the rank of general in a decree from HTS chief Ahmed al-Sharaa, now Syria`s de facto leader.-AFP