Syria’s interim leader has struck a deal to merge the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Kurdish group that controls the nation’s northeast, into the army and achieve a nationwide ceasefire.
The breakthrough agreement gives the regime of Ahmed al-Sharaa control over most of Syria following days of clashes and targeted killing of civilians in the war-torn country.
The deal was signed on Monday by Mr Sharaa and Mazloum Abdi, commander of the Kurdish group, which is backed by the US.
The agreement, which provides for SDF civilian and military institutions to be integrated into the new state, came as Mr Sharaa grappled with the fallout of the massacres by his soldiers of over 1,000 people, mostly civilians from the Alawite minority, in western Syria.
The violence around the port city of Latakia, following deadly clashes in many towns and cities, reopened the wounds of the country’s 13-year civil war and marked the worst unrest since militias led by Mr Shaara’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a rebranded Isis and al-Qaeda affiliate, toppled the Bashar al-Assad regime and sent the former president fleeing to Russia.
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The deal is envisaged to be implemented by the end of the year to bring all border crossings with Iraq and Turkey, airports and oil fields in the northeast under the Shaara regime’s control. The region’s prisons, which hold around 9,000 suspected Isis members, are also expected to come under the control of Damascus.
The Kurds, in return, gain “constitutional rights” that were reportedly denied to them under Assad’s rule. They include the right to use and teach their language. Hundreds of thousands of Kurds displaced during the civil war will return home, and members of the community deprived of Syrian nationality will get the right of citizenship.
The agreement says that all Syrians, irrespective of their religion or ethnicity, will get to participate in the political process.
In a post on X, Mr Abdi said the agreement represented a “real opportunity to build a new Syria”. His group was working with the new regime in Damascus at “such a critical period” to guarantee a transitional phase that would reflect the aspirations of the Syrian people for justice and stability.
Mr Abdi reportedly wanted his forces to join the defence ministry as a bloc rather than as individuals, but his proposal was rejected.
The Shaara regime, meanwhile, announced the end of its military operation against insurgents loyal to Assad and his family.
“To the remaining remnants of the defeated regime and its fleeing officers, our message is clear and explicit,” the defence ministry said. “If you return, we will also return, and you will find before you men who don’t know how to retreat and who will not have mercy on those whose hands are stained with the blood of the innocent.”
Additional reporting by agencies
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