The Kurdish forces announced this Friday an agreement with the Government of Syria that extends the ceasefire between both parties to the entire country and involves the gradual integration of the civil and military institutions of the State into the State. The pact, which the central Executive has confirmed on national television, grants Damascus control of the territory, borders and resources of the entire country, while the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – the armed wing of the Kurdish-led administration – has indicated that its troops will make up four brigades of the Syrian army and that the agreement respects “the civil and educational rights of the Kurdish people.”
In a statement, the FDS have indicated that the understanding “includes the integration of the institutions of the Autonomous Administration [del Norte y el Este de Siria, AANES] in the Syrian state institutions”, and has defended that the movement aims to “unify the Syrian territory”, achieve “full integration” and cooperate to rebuild the country.
In the short term, the new understanding stipulates the withdrawal of military forces “from the points of contact”, which in practice means the complete extension of the ceasefire and allows the forces of the Ministry of the Interior to deploy in the urban centers of Hasakah and Qamishli (both in the northeast), denied for years to state forces.
If fulfilled, the new agreement will grant the central power control over regions outside its direct control for years, consolidating and extending its dominance – virtually – to the entire country. The language of the agreement even seems to give the State control of enclaves that the SDF had managed to retain during the offensive, such as the Semalka border crossing with Iraq. At the same time, the integration leaves the political project led by the Kurds in northern Syria very affected, a part of Kurdistan (which also extends to areas of Turkey, Iraq and Iran) where they had established during the war a democratic confederalism that united Kurdish, Arab or Assyrian populations.
The dilution of the Kurdish administration in the new State – after the fall of Bashar al Assad’s regime in December 2024 – comes after the Syrian forces, led by the interim president, Ahmed al Shara, launched another offensive this January, in which they have seized much of the territory of that oil-rich autonomy.
An unenforced pact
Al Sharaa’s first option was negotiation with the FDS, despite the fact that Türkiye was pushing for a tougher approach. In March, the Executive and the Kurdish forces already reached an integration agreement, but left the details of its application pending to be finalized before the end of the year. In the midst of growing distrust and with different decision-making structures, both parties ended the year amidst mutual accusations about the reason for the paralysis.
On the 6th, amid reports about the poor results of the integration negotiations, the Syrian army and the forces led by the Kurds, the northern city with two neighborhoods controlled by the SDF. Despite temporary truce agreements, the fighting persisted and the central government extended it to much of the north of the country, including the governorates of Deir ez Zor and Raqa, which for most of the war (2011-2024) were in the hands of the Kurds.
The military campaign is part of Damascus’ efforts to extend its rule over territories that fell into the hands of non-governmental forces during the civil war. It has broad support among the majority of the population and among the main foreign ministries. The United States, the main supporter of the Kurdish forces in recent years and now an ally of the Executive in Damascus, has celebrated the agreement as something “historic.”
Beyond the short-term cessation of hostilities, the agreement stipulates the formation of a military division in the Syrian army made up of three SDF brigades, as well as a new brigade. It will stay in Kobane (a municipality that is part of the autonomous administration and symbol of the Kurdish resistance in the region), but affiliated with the military structure of the Aleppo Governorate.
Although the statement does not detail it, government sources have indicated to Syrian television Al Ijbaria that the integration of these uniformed personnel will be carried out on an individual basis. There will therefore be no units that can be distinguished as originating from the SDF, a central issue in the negotiations in which the Kurds () have had to give in. The institutions that have formed the AANES will become part of the state structure, maintaining the same employees.
