Syrian president announces deal with Kurds including truce
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DAMASCUS: Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa announced Sunday (Jan 18) an agreement with the chief of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, Mazloum Abdi, that includes a ceasefire after government forces advanced in Kurdish-held areas of the north and east.
The United States, which for years has supported Syrian Kurdish fighters but is now also a key ally of Damascus, welcomed the deal, with envoy Tom Barrack calling it "a pivotal inflection point" and commending both sides' "constructive efforts".
After meeting Barrack in Damascus, Sharaa told reporters: "I recommend a complete ceasefire". He said a meeting with Abdi was postponed until Monday due to poor weather, but that "in order to calm the situation, we decided to sign the agreement".
Details are to be finalised on Monday, he said, adding that the deal was based on "the spirit" of an agreement signed in March.
He urged Arab tribes who make up the majority of the population in Kurdish-held Raqa and Deir Ezzor provinces in Syria's north and east, "to maintain calm... in order to pave the way for the gradual implementation of the agreement's provisions until we reach complete calm in Syria".
He expressed hope that the deal would be "a good start" for development and reconstruction and "a chance for security and stability" and "that Syria ends its current state of division and moves towards a state of unity and progress".
Neither Abdi nor the Kurdish administration has commented.
The presidency published the "ceasefire and full integration agreement" signed by Sharaa and Abdi.
It includes a "comprehensive and immediate ceasefire on all fronts and contact points between Syrian government forces" and the SDF.
It also stipulates the "integration" of SDF military and security members "into the structure of the Syrian defence and interior ministries on an individual basis, after carrying out the necessary security checks".
Other points stipulate "the full and immediate administrative and military handover of the Deir Ezzor and Raqa provinces to the Syrian government", and the "integration of all civil institutions" in the Kurds' stronghold of Hasakeh province into the state.
It includes integrating the Kurds' administration responsible for Islamic State group "prisoners and camps", as well as "forces responsible for protecting these facilities" into the Syrian government, which will take "full legal and security responsibility for them".
The SDF leadership will submit candidates for "senior military, security and civil positions", while Sharaa is to issue a decree "appointing a candidate to the position of Hasakeh governor".
The deal is a major blow to Kurdish hopes to preserve the gains of de facto autonomous administration built during Syria's civil war, including institutions that administered and controlled parts of the north and northeast.
It also ends Kurdish aspirations for decentralised rule despite their earlier insistence on the issue during negotiations with Damascus.
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