Kurdish-led SDF announces new agreement with Syrian government to stabilize ceasefire

ANKARA — The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Friday they reached a new comprehensive agreement with the country’s central government intended to stabilize a ceasefire that ended weeks of fighting and to lay out the steps toward integration between the two sides.Syrian state TV confirmed the agreement, saying government officials said it would be implemented immediately.The interim government in Damascus has been fighting an offensive in the north of the country against the SDF over recent weeks as it seeks to consolidate control of the country following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.However, a ceasefire over the past week has developed into an agreement for a phased integration of the Kurdish military forces into the army, according to an SDF statement issued on Friday.The army has seized swaths of northern and northeastern territory in the last three weeks from the SDF in a rapid turn of events that has consolidated the leadership of President Ahmed al-Sharaa, after months-long talks between the sides failed to merge the fighters and Kurdish political entities into central institutions.Under the agreement, security forces affiliated with the Syrian Ministry of Interior would go into the cities of al-Hassakeh and Qamishli in the Kurdish heartland, which they had previously been barred from entering, and the process of integrating SDF and government forces would begin.This would include the formation of a new military unit comprising three brigades from the SDF, in addition to the formation of a brigade of SDF fighters within a government brigade in Aleppo province.Local institutions in the Kurdish-led government of northeast Syria, which has operated as a de facto autonomous zone for years, and their employees would be integrated into state institutions.The agreement also includes “civil and educational rights for the Kurdish people and guaranteeing the return of the displaced to their areas,” the SDF statement said.”The agreement aims to unify the Syrian territories and achieve the full integration process in the region by enhancing cooperation between the concerned parties and unifying efforts to rebuild the country.”The United States, which had long been the main backer of the SDF as the group fought against Islamic State militants, has moved closer to Damascus under new interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa.The US did not intervene military in this month’s fighting but pushed the two sides to make a deal. — Agencies