US nudged Kurds towards Damascus deal as troop presence comes into focus

The United States encouraged its Syrian Kurdish allies to reach Monday’s landmark deal with the Islamist-led government in Damascus, six sources say, an agreement that could stave off further conflict in northern Syria at a time of uncertainty over the future of US forces deployed there.

The deal aims to stitch back together a country fractured by 14 years of war, paving the way for Kurdish-led forces which hold a quarter of Syria to merge with Damascus, along with regional Kurdish governing bodies. Key details of how this will happen have yet to be spelt out, however.

General Mazloum Abdi, head of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), was flown to Damascus for Monday’s signing with interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa aboard a US military aircraft, three sources say.

Three other sources — US officials — said the United States had encouraged the SDF to move towards an agreement to resolve its status in the new Syria — the focus of multi-track talks which began after Bashar al-Assad was toppled in December and which Reuters reported on in January.

“The US played a very crucial role,” a senior regional intelligence source says.

The deal came at a moment of pressure on both sides.

Sharaa is grappling with the fallout of sectarian killings which were reportedly carried out by militants aligned with his government, while the SDF is locked in conflict with Turkey-backed Syrian groups who are allied to Damascus.

Four sources, including one close to the Syrian government, say the sectarian violence had nudged along the agreement.

The intelligence source and a Damascus-based diplomat expected the deal to ease Turkish military pressure on the SDF, deemed by Ankara as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Turkey has welcomed the agreement.

A Syrian government official says the presidency would work to address pending issues between the SDF and Turkey.