The Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led coalition that joined the US forces to fight the Islamic state, have agreed to merge with the same interim Syrian government forces that previously had affiliated with al-Qaeda, officials said.
The two groups shook Syria and attacked the deal on days of fatal sectarian violence between government forces and those loyal to the abdicated Assad regime after shaking Syria and killing hundreds of civilians.
The SDF had little involvement in those conflicts, but has long been opposed to both the old Syrian leadership and the new Syrian leadership. In a new ceasefire, two of Syria’s biggest war groups join forces despite their previously held, clearly contradictory allies.
The agreement reached following a meeting in Damascus on Monday between Syrian interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa and SDF leader Mazurum Abdi, is looking at the concessions of the SDF of civil and military bodies controlled in northeastern Syria, including airports and oil and gas fields, the Syrian government said in a statement.
The contract also outlines the assurance of the rights of all Syrians to “represent and participate in the political process” regardless of “religious and ethnic background,” a statement from the Syrian government said.
SDF ABDI on Monday welcomed the agreement as a “real opportunity to build a new Syria.”
“We are committed to guaranteeing the rights of all Syrians and building a better future where they fulfill their desires for peace and dignity,” he said in a post in X.
This deal is an important step for Shara, who has vowed to lead a more unified and comprehensive Syrian representative of the country’s myriad ethnic and religious organizations.
It could also help to alleviate the increased fear at the international stage of potentially backslides into his previous identity as a jihadist leader with ties to the Islamic state and al-Qaeda.
According to the UK-based Syrian Human Rights Observation, these concerns recently killed hundreds of civilians across Syria, causing fatal violence primarily from the Alawian community (the small Islamic faction to which the Assad family belongs).
The agreement “is a right step, gives Syrians a sense of security and represents unity,” says Rahaf Alduguri, lecturer in Middle East and North African studies at Lancaster University in England.
“Even so, there are so many challenges,” she said in a phone interview Tuesday.
Sharaa vowed to hold it to account for the violence that Assad’s loyalist attacks on security forces appeared to cause a wave of retaliation.
The worst violent eruption since the Assad regime was swept from power late last year highlighted many of the complex challenges faced in trying to unify and ensure the security of the country that has been broken and damaged by more than a decade of civil war.
The Syrian Kurds, denied basic rights under Assad’s regime, were among minority groups who were clear about what the future holds under Shara’s leadership.
The contract between the SDF and the Syrian government could also help abolish the ongoing conflict of the militia alliance with Turkey-Turkey-backed Syrian-backed rebels, but the SDF on Tuesday reported an “unprecedented escalation of attacks” in parts of northern and eastern Syria.
Turkey did not appear to have commented immediately on the deal struck between the SDF and the Syrian government. In a statement Monday, Turkish President Recept Tayyip Erdogan said he had condemned “any kind of attacks that target Syria’s unity, prosperity and social peace in the most powerful way” in response to the violence that has shaken the country.
Meanwhile, Arab neighbors welcomed the news of the deal, and Qatar’s Foreign Ministry calls it “an important step towards integrating citizen peace, strengthening security and stability, and building the state of institutions and laws.”
Ammar Cheikh Omar contributed.
