Landmark SDF deal hailed as positive step for Syria and Kurds

As the new authorities in Damascus face their greatest challenge to credibility in western Syria, a surprise deal with the country’s Kurds could mark a new chapter in the northeast, though significant challenges remain.

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which controls much of the oil-rich northeast, signed a deal with the government on Monday to integrate its civilian and military institutions with the new state.

The news of the agreement led to spontaneous celebrations in different cities in Syria. Many see the deal as a pathway to more equality for Syria’s long-marginalised Kurds as it includes recognising the Kurdish component as an integral part of the state with full citizenship and constitutional rights. 

Mohammed A Salih, a non-resident senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, described the deal to Middle East Eye as a significant and positive development for Syria, especially for its Kurdish population.

“It appears to address two major issues for the Kurds: granting citizenship to the hundreds of thousands rendered stateless since 1962 and ensuring the return of those displaced by pro-Turkey groups from areas like Afrin,” he said.  

The eight-point agreement, which was signed by SDF commander Mazloum Abdi and interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, also includes the rights of all Syrians to participate in state institutions based on competence, regardless of religious or ethnic background. 

'Building a new Syria'

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Abdi said the Kurdish-led coalition was working together with Damascus to “ensure a transitional phase that reflects our people’s aspirations for justice and stability.” 

Abdi said the deal was “a genuine opportunity to build a new Syria that embraces all its components and ensures good neighbourly relations”, likely in reference to Turkey which has backed the fight against the SDF’s control of northeast Syria.

Mustafa Sejari, a former commander of the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA), meanwhile called the agreement it a “historic achievement in preserving the unity of Syrian territory.”

According to the agreement, all SDF-controlled entities, including border crossings, airports and oil and gas fields, will be integrated into the state institutions. After Bashar al-Assad was toppled in late December, Kurds took control of Qamishli International Airport, but were not able to operate it.

The deal also stipulates the return and protection of displaced Syrians, supports efforts to combat terrorism and security threats to Syria, and rejects division and hate speech.

The return of internally displaced persons (IDPs) is a crucial issue for the Kurds, as Turkish-backed Syrian rebels displaced thousands of Kurds in Afrin in 2018 and in Serekaniye (Ras al-Ain) in 2019.

Lastly, it establishes executive committees to oversee the implementation of the agreement before the end of the year.

“The agreement marks a fundamental phase toward building a new Syria. It seeks to establish a democratic and pluralistic state that respects the rights of all its Syrian components,” the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), the SDF’s political wing, said in a statement.

US mediation

An SDF source told MEE that the agreement was “the outcome of months of negotiations mediated by the US.”

On 30 December 2024, SDF’s Abdi saw Sharaa for the first time in Damascus after the fall of Assad, in a meeting facilitated by the US. It took over two months to reach an agreement.

The commander of US Central Command (Centcom), General Michael Erik, also visited the SDF before the deal was announced.

“I would suspect that the US believes this deal as the only way for real peace in Syria. In addition, the leaders in the northeast bring experience in governing a religiously and ethnically diverse population, a huge benefit for this new government,” Nadine Maenza, the secretariat president of the Commission on International Religious Freedom, a US government initiative focused on promoting global religious freedom, told MEE.

The first signs that an agreement was imminent was a statement by the SDF and the Kurdish-led autonomous administration on 18 February congratulating Sharaa on his appointment as president, marking the first sign of recognition. They also invited him to visit northeast Syria.

“This [deal] marks significant progress toward stabilising the Syrian state, given that the SDF is a major player, controlling substantial territories rich in resources,” Syrian political expert Mohammad Ibrahim told MEE.

“However, transforming this broad agreement into concrete, actionable steps that satisfy both parties will be a long and challenging journey, especially amidst the intricate web of external influences on the Syrian situation.”

A sustainable solution

Ibrahim said the international community now has a crucial opportunity to support this process by offering the essential tools and conditions needed to help Syrians make significant progress toward stability and prosperity for everyone.

'It addressed two major issues for the Kurds: the citizenship to the hundreds of thousands of stateless people and the return of the displaced'

- Mohammed A Salih, Foreign Policy Research Institute

Several western countries have diplomatically pushed for the integration of the SDF into the new Syrian state. Ibrahim said France supported the deal, while one diplomatic source said the UK was also possibly involved.

After meeting with Sharaa in January, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock underlined the need to “find a solution that protects everyone’s security interests, especially those of our Kurdish partners of the SDF.”

Another western diplomat said that the “devil is in the details, but it’s hard to see a sustainable solution for the northeast other than a deal with Damascus.

“The US presence [in northeast Syria] is now more uncertain than at any time since late 2019. A deal with Damascus is a logical hedge and pretty much the only sustainable solution for the SDF.”

All diplomatic sources spoke to MEE on condition of anonymity.

In February, NBC News reported that the US Department of Defense was drafting plans to fully withdraw troops from Syria, after President Donald Trump, along with officials close to him, expressed interest in pulling out all troops from the country.

Violence in the west

The agreement comes days after sectarian unrest spread in northwestern Syria, in the biggest challenge to Sharaa since he siezed power. The violence began on Thursday when gunmen loyal to Assad launched attacks on the coastal region, home to members of the Alawi community, to which Assad and most of his loyalists belong. 

Clashes spiralled into revenge attacks on civilians, leaving hundreds dead and thousands displaced, as government forces sought to crush what they described as an insurrection. Civilians belonging to the Alawi community were particularly targeted.

While Sharaa has vowed to hold accountable those responsible for the violence, the killing of civilians has been a major blow to the new administration’s image and has stoked fears of a renewed civil war.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday said his country stood with Christian, Druze, Alawi and Kurdish communities and called on Syria’s interim authorities to hold the perpetrators of “these massacres against Syria’s minority communities accountable.”

Religious freedom advocate Maenza added that while the deal “will be welcomed by the US and international community, it likely won’t change the picture for lifting sanctions quite yet, especially with the mass violence by Syrian security forces against mainly Alawi civilians but also Christians and others in recent days.

“It’s urgent that Sharaa delivers on his promise for punishment and accountability.”

Notably, the agreement commits the SDF to supporting the Syrian state in its fight against remnants of Assad’s government and “all threats to its security and unity.” The SDF has in the past fought government-backed elements in Deir Ezzor.

A senior official in the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), Aldar Xelil, told Ronahi TV that it is “is important for us to be in dialogue [with Damascus] so that conflicts in places like the coast and Aleppo do not repeat themselves.” 

“In order to prevent sectarian and internal war, the negotiation process should be developed,” he added.

PYD executive member Salih Muslim also told MEE that the agreement is initially “to prevent the expansion of the war, and it’s for all of Syria.

“It’s the first time the self-administration has become a partner in the process of rebuilding Syria. Committees will be established to implement what has been agreed upon, and significant progress is being made toward establishing a democratic Syria.”

Other challenges

The agreement raises a key question about the fate of the 10,000 Islamic State (IS) group fighters held in SDF-run prisons in northeast Syria, as well as the 40,000 IS families in the al-Hol camp.

“In the prisons, there are maybe 8,000 fighters held in arbitrary detention since at least 2019. In the camps, there are several thousand third-country nationals who actively evade repatriations,” said Jussi Tanner, director general of Consular Services of Finland, who previously served as Finland’s special envoy to repatriate Finnish children from camps in Syria.

'It's the first time the self-administration has become a partner in the process of rebuilding Syria'

- Salih Muslim, PYD

“Children are growing up. The status quo is clearly not working. If we want to defuse the fundamentally unsustainable detention system in northeast Syria, and prevent ]IS] from rejuvenating, something new is needed.”

An SDF source told MEE that the agreement does not change much at this stage.

“This is just a memorandum. Committees will work to find solutions to every issue. For now only some government forces could be positioned along the border and maybe border gates. But this was the case in the past anyway so nothing new,” he said.

Sky News Arabic meanwhile reported that the SDF and Damascus will jointly fight IS cells in the Syrian desert.

Another issue is the ongoing fighting between the SDF and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army, whose commanders have joined the new Syrian army.

The implementation is set for the end of the year, but the agreement does not outline how the SDF’s military operations will be incorporated into Syria’s defence ministry.

The SDF, although losing Tal Rifaat and Manbij in December to Turkish-backed groups, has been able to successfully defend the strategic Tishreen Dam and Qara Qozak Bridge on the Eupharates River for nearly three months. 

The SDF has not fought against Sharaa’s Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, even keeping control over two Kurdish neighbourhoods, Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh, in Aleppo. It did, however, lose control over northern Aleppo to Turkish-backed groups.

The SDF source said that the US-backed Free Syrian Army forces in Tanf “should be positioned along contact lines between us and the SNA, especially at Tishreen and Qaraqozakh, only on the western side of the river.”

Positive steps

Syria’s Luqman Ahmi, co-chair of the Democratic Green Party and former spokesperson for the Kurdish-led self-administration, told MEE that this understanding could serve as the foundational principles for Syria’s new constitution, ensuring the rights of all Syrians, including Kurds.

“We will have to see how this agreement will be executed,” he added. “The agreement says that separate committees will be established to implement the understanding and how it will relate in terms of working with Damascus as the capital. 

“At the moment, this agreement is only a reference. I can see some interpretations of the agreement, but in my opinion it’s still early. The specialised committees need to meet and discuss and implement the details of what has been broadly agreed upon.

“In general, this agreement is a positive step, and we hope that it will serve the rights of ethnic and religious minorities in Syria.”

Salih meanwhile warned that many thorny details remain to be resolved.

“The key question now is how the agreement will be implemented in practice - and just as crucially, how stable Syria will remain amid the recent unrest and massacres in the Alawi-majority coastal areas.”