Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa announced the deal on Monday, saying it was aimed at “ensuring the rights of all Syrians in representation and participation in the political process and all state institutions based on competence, regardless of their religious and ethnic backgrounds.”
The deal will also recognize Syria’s Kurdish community as an integral part of the state, tens of thousands of whom were previously denied citizenship under the decades-long rule of the Assad government.
“We consider this agreement a real opportunity to build a new Syria that embraces all its components and ensures good neighborliness,” SDF General Commander Mazloum Abdi said in a statement on X.
The deal is one of the biggest developments in the country since the rebel alliance led by Sharaa toppled former President Bashar al-Assad in December.
By integrating the Kurdish community, it hopes to guard against the possibility of further sectarian strife in the country, which suffered through more than a decade of war before Assad’s downfall.
Crowds gathered across the Syrian cities of Aleppo, Homs, Hama, Tartus, Deir Ezzor and Hasaka to celebrate the agreement. Fireworks lit up the sky over the landmark Aleppo Citadel in the early hours of Tuesday.
The move comes amid the worst violence the country has seen in years as security forces fight supporters of Assad.
The deal between Syria’s interim government and the SDF guarantees the Kurdish-led group’s support to the Syrian state in combatting the Assad remnants and any other threats to the country’s security and unity.
The SDF, which was not part of the rebel alliance that overthrew Assad, is presently the most powerful non-governmental force in the country and holds strategic territories, primarily in the northeast.
Under the new deal, those areas would come under the control of the central government, including border crossings, airports, and oil and gas fields. A ceasefire would go into effect across Syria and displaced Syrians would return to their homes.
Executive committees have been tasked with making sure the agreement is implemented by the end of the year.
While the SDF has been a key US partner in the fight against Daesh, it is largely made up of fighters from a group known as the Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG), which is considered a terrorist organization by neighboring Turkey.
