Syrian government forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces have agreed to an immediate ceasefire and an integration deal that hands Damascus full military and administrative control over the eastern provinces of Deir Ezzor and Raqqa, following a rapid government offensive into Kurdish-held territory.
The agreement, announced on Sunday and published by state media, also paves the way for SDF fighters to be absorbed individually into Syria’s new military and security institutions, in one of the most significant shifts in power since the fall of former president Bashar Al Assad in late 2024.
Under the accord, Syrian forces will assume authority not only over provincial capitals and key towns but also over strategic oil and gas fields and international border crossings in the northeast, long considered the economic backbone of the Kurdish-run administration.
State outlets said SDF personnel will be vetted and integrated into the defence and interior ministries on an individual basis, without preserving the group as a single, separate formation, while non-Syrian fighters linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party are expected to leave the country under the terms of the deal.
Officials in Damascus said the ceasefire followed months of on‑off negotiations aimed at bringing Kurdish-led military and civilian structures under state control by the end of 2025, a goal that had largely stalled and given way to clashes in Aleppo and parts of the northeast earlier this month. The ceasefire announcement came after US envoy Tom Barrack met President Ahmad Al Shara in Damascus on Sunday, amid stepped‑up American mediation to prevent a wider confrontation between Syrian forces and the US‑backed SDF.
Washington had long supported the SDF as its main partner against ISIS and later maintained a military presence in parts of the northeast.Syria’s latest ceasefire with the Kurdish-led SDF marks a turning point in the post‑Assad transition, coming just over a year after rebels ousted Bashar Al Assad in December 2024 and installed a new leadership under President Ahmad Al Shara.
