Syrian government signs breakthrough deal with Kurdish-led forces

DAMASCUS, Syria — The Kurdish-led militia that controls northeastern Syria agreed Monday to merge with the country’s new government, marking a major breakthrough for Damascus in its efforts to unify a country still wrestling with violent turmoil.

The agreement, announced by the office of Syria’s presidency and signed by both parties, stipulated that the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces would integrate “all civil and military institutions” into the new Syrian state by the end of the year, including its prized oil and gas fields.

The deal also called for the SDF to help Damascus combat remnants of the Assad regime and outlined “the rights of all Syrians to representation and participation in the political process,” amid pledges by Syria’s new leadership to form an inclusive government after years of sectarian strife.

The timing of the agreement, which came amid violent clashes in Syria’s coastal region that have left more than 1,300 people dead, signaled a moment of reprieve for Syria’s new interim president, Ahmad al-Sharaa.

Since the rebel coalition headed by al-Sharaa toppled dictator Bashar Assad in December, the new government has sought to unify the complex web of rebel groups operating across Syria — the most powerful of them being the Kurdish-led forces in the northeast. However, the security situation has remained unstable, and the Kurdish militia has been among the most challenging groups to bring under the new government’s fold.

Syria’s new government has ordered all armed groups in the country to dissolve, and in recent weeks, several militias have agreed to work with the new authorities, but it remains unclear whether all those militias have yet fully integrated into a single national army under al-Sharaa’s authority.

There remains skepticism about promises to create an inclusive government. As a rebel leader, al-Sharaa commanded an armed group once allied with al-Qaida, and skeptics question whether he has given up its former hard-line jihadist views.

For years, the Kurdish-led militia has been the main U.S. partner in the fight in Syria against the Islamic State group, and made hard-fought territorial gains amid the country’s civil war, to the extent that it now administers a de facto state in Syria’s northeast. The group has long sought to position itself as the protectors of Syrian Kurds, who make up about 10% of the country’s population. It also provides security at detention camps housing thousands of Islamic State group members and their families.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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