Syrian government signs breakthrough deal with Kurdish authorities in northeast

By AP 10 March 2025, 8:48 pm 25 Edit

Children who fled the ongoing battles between Turkish-backed groups and Syrian Kurdish forces in Tal Rifaat and other areas of the northern Aleppo province, gather in the yard of a school in the northeastern city of Hasakeh where they took refuge, on January 5, 2025. (Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)

Syria’s central government reaches a deal with the Kurdish-led authority that controls the country’s northeast, including a ceasefire and the merging of the main US-backed force there into the Syrian army.

The deal was signed today by interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa and Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

The deal marks a major breakthrough that would bring most of Syria under the control of the government run by the group that led the ousting of president Bashar Assad in December.

The deal to be implemented by the end of the year would bring all border crossings with Iraq and Turkey in the northeast, airports, and oil fields under the control of the central government.

Syria’s Kurds will gain their rights, including teaching and using their language, which were banned for decades under Assad.