US-Backed Kurdish-Dominated SDF Signs Deal to Reintegrate With Syria

The commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, Mazloum Abid, said, ‘We consider this agreement a real opportunity to build a new Syria.’

U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters pose for a photo on a rooftop overlooking Baghouz, Syria, after the SDF declared the area free of ISIS terrorists after months of fighting on March 23, 2019. Maya Alleruzzo/Photo via AP

The Kurdish-dominated and U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) signed a deal with the new government in Damascus on Monday, reintegrating the northeast with the rest of the country.

The SDF was created with U.S. backing in 2015 and helped defeat ISIS in eastern Syria by 2019, eventually creating a self-ruling region in the oil-rich northeast of the country.

Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa shook hands on the deal with SDF commander Mazloum Abdi on Monday, and the text of the agreement was posted on Syria’s state-run news agency, SANA.

The current de facto government in Damascus was formed by members of HTS, a Sunni Islamist group designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. government.

HTS emerged from al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of the al-Qaeda terrorist group.

According to SANA, the agreement recognizes the Kurdish community “as an integral part of the Syrian state, with the Syrian state guaranteeing their right to citizenship and all constitutional rights.”

It said the deal would also integrate, “all civil and military institutions in northeastern Syria into the administration of the Syrian state, including border crossings, airports, and oil and gas fields.”

SANA said both sides would seek to implement the agreement by the end of 2025.

It is not clear if the SDF would be entirely dissolved and if the SDF would hand over their weapons and be assimilated into a new Syrian army.

Abdi said in a post on social media platform X, “In this sensitive period, we are working together to ensure a transitional phase that reflects our people’s aspirations for justice and stability.”

‘Building A Better Future’

“We are committed to building a better future that guarantees the rights of all Syrians and fulfills their aspirations for peace and dignity. We consider this agreement a real opportunity to build a new Syria that embraces all its components and ensures good neighborliness,” he added.

The agreement with the SDF comes only days after the United States expressed concern about minority Alawites being murdered in northwest Syria by HTS forces.

On March 9, Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged Syrian authorities to “hold the perpetrators of these massacres” accountable.

Rubio said the United States “stands with Syria’s religious and ethnic minorities, including its Christian, Druze, Alawite, and Kurdish communities.”

On March 10, in an interview with Reuters, al-Sharaa responded: “Syria is a state of law. The law will take its course on all. We fought to defend the oppressed, and we won’t accept that any blood be shed unjustly, or goes without punishment or accountability, even among those closest to us.”

In December, the HTS, backed by the SDF and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army, ousted Russian-backed President Bashar al-Assad, a member of the Alawite minority, who fled to Moscow.

There were then clashes in the north, with the SNA seizing the town of Manbij from the SDF.

Turkey has long opposed the SDF, because of its close links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is classified as a terrorist group by Ankara, Brussels, London, and Washington.

The European Council on Foreign Relations describes the SDF as a “multi-ethnic coalition of Kurdish, Arabic, and Christian fighters.”

It says the group was dominated by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which was formed in 2012, and says the YPG was formed by veterans of the PKK, including Mazloum Abdi.

On Feb. 27, the imprisoned leader of the PKK, Abdullah Ocalan, appealed to the group to put down its weapons.

In a statement from a prison on the island of Imrali, near Istanbul, Ocalan, 75, said: “As in the case with any modern community and party whose existence has not been abolished by force, convene your congress to integrate with the state and society voluntarily and make a decision.”

“All groups must lay [down] their arms and the PKK must dissolve itself.”

SDF Combatted ISIS

Since the military defeat of ISIS, the SDF have played an important role in helping U.S. forces to combat jihadist elements in eastern Syria.

U.S. Central Command (Centcom) reported at the weekend the SDF had conducted a raid in the town of Shahil, or al-Shuhayl, in eastern Syria on March 6, and captured Salah Mohammad Al-Abdullah, who they described as “an ISIS cell leader.”

In a statement, Centcom said the SDF recovered a sniper rifle, an AK-47 assault rifle, hand grenades, and ammunition.

“The SDF-led operation is part of the ongoing Defeat-ISIS campaign to degrade ISIS networks and prevent the resurgence of the terrorist group in the region.”

Centom forces enabled SDF during the operation by providing technical support and intelligence,” Centcom added.

Reuters contributed to this report.