The Syrian government has agreed a new ceasefire deal with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), further consolidating the rule of president Ahmed al-Sharaa and avoiding a bloody conflict in the country’s northeast.
The new agreement will see the Kurdish forces phased into the state, after the SDF lost huge swathes of territory to government forces in the past two weeks – marking the most dramatic shift in Syria’s control map since longtime ruler Bashar al Assad was deposed in late 2024.
Areas in northern and eastern Syria have been gripped by the conflict since Assad’s fall, with the fate of the SDF marking one of the largest issues looming over the country since president Ahmed al-Sharaa took power.
Tom Barrack, a US envoy who has been closely involved in mediation efforts, said the agreement marked “a profound and historic milestone in Syria’s journey toward national reconciliation, unity, and enduring stability”.
The agreement will see forces on the frontlines pull back, before interior ministry security forces deploy to the centre of the SDF-held cities of Hasakah and Qamishli in the northeast.
It will also see three SDF brigades merged into a military division affiliated to the governorate of Aleppo, in addition to the formation of a brigade for forces in the SDF-held town of Kobani, also known as Ain al-Arab.
The military division will include “groups from the SDF within brigades, alongside other brigades”, but fighters will join such brigades as “individuals” and the whole division would be under the authority of Syria’s Defence Ministry, an official in Damascus said.
An integration deal was first agreed between government and Kurdish forces last March, but little progress was made towards implementation before a year-end deadline, prompting government forces to rapidly advance.
The SDF said in a statement that the deal “aims to unify Syrian territory and achieve full integration in the region by strengthening cooperation between the concerned parties and unifying efforts to rebuild the country”.
An almost identical statement was published by Syrian state-run broadcaster al-Ikhbariya, citing a government official.
The statements did not address control of Semalka, the last remaining SDF-controlled border crossing into northern Iraq, but a Syrian official said the Syrian state would take over all border crossings.
Noah Bonsey, senior adviser with the International Crisis Group think-tank, said the deal was “a potentially historic turning point”.
“It looks like both sides have succeeded in defining a middle ground that works for both of them on some incredibly difficult questions,” he said.
“It spares northeast Syria what could have been a really ugly military showdown. Implementation will be tricky. There are a lot of challenges ahead,” he said, adding that he was waiting to see all the terms.
