People walk along a street in Hassakeh, northeastern Syria, as the city saw a gradual return to daily life following the announcement of a 15-day ceasefire between the Syrian government and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. AP
In recent weeks, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have ceded vast areas of Arab-majority land to Syrian government forces.
It was territory they held for years, having seized it in fierce battles against the Islamic State jihadist group, while backed by a US-led coalition.
That made SDF key partners for Washington, but since the toppling of Bashar al-Assad in late 2024, the United States has drawn close to the new authorities in Damascus, declared the need for its Kurdish alliance largely over and sought to mediate talks between the government and the Kurds.
The new agreement, announced by both the SDF and Syrian state television, follows an understanding earlier this month on the future of the majority-Kurdish areas of Hasakeh and Kobane.
The new deal "seeks to unify Syrian territory and achieve the full integration" of the Kurdish-majority region.
It includes a provision that military forces should retreat from frontlines and only allows interior ministry forces to enter the cities of Hasakeh and Qamishli.
It sets out a "gradual integration" of the Kurdish forces and administrative institutions, and it appears to include at least some of the Kurds' demands, including the integration of three SDF brigades into the Syrian army.
Another brigade will be created for the town of Kobane, once a symbol of Kurdish fighters' victory against IS.
Damascus had previously rejected the idea of ethnically based military units.
Kobane, hemmed in by the Turkish border to the north and government forces on all sides, is around 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the Kurds' stronghold in Syria's far northeast.
'Remains vague'
During Syria's civil war, the Kurds were able to carve out a de facto autonomous region that expanded as they advanced against IS.
While Kurdish forces tried to protect their gains, Syria's new Islamist authorities wanted to extend state control across the country.
Talks between the two began swiftly after Assad was forced out, but progress stalled and there were repeated bouts of violence, culminating in the recent army offensive.
Lars Hauch, an expert on Syria at Conflict Mediation Solutions, told AFP that the deal "suggests that remnants of the SDF will continue to exist for the time being, but the text remains vague on core questions of administrative and security decentralisation".
"Rather than a done deal, this looks more like an advanced memorandum of understanding, whose sequencing and specifics will need to be negotiated in what has been a largely performative process in the past."
The new deal stipulates the integration of administrative institutions into those of the Syrian state as well as the retention of existing civil employees.
Syria's state media quoted a government source as saying that "the state will assume control over all civilian and governmental institutions, as well as (border) crossings".
"No part of the country will remain outside its control," the source added.
For years, Kurdish forces have controlled long stretches of the border with Turkey to the north and Iraq to the east. With several crossings closed, most traffic passed through one main crossing with Iraqi Kurdistan.
The deal also guarantees the civil and educational rights of the Kurdish people, a minority that has suffered decades of marginalisation and oppression under previous rulers in Syria.
Last month, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa issued a decree recognising Kurdish rights and making Kurdish a "national language".
Kurdish politician and key negotiator Elham Ahmad thanked the United States and France on X for their mediation efforts, calling the agreement "a significant step toward stability."
She said that "deploying security forces is essential to a responsible and gradual integration process that guarantees partnership, preserves the dignity of all communities."
US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said on X that the deal was a "historic milestone" that "reflects a shared commitment to inclusion, mutual respect, and the collective dignity of all Syrian communities".
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