A Kurdish-led rebel coalition which dominates north-eastern Syria has signed a deal with the interim government in Damascus. The agreement, which means the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) will look to hand over border posts and oil and gas fields under its control, recognises the Kurdish minority as ‘an integral part of the Syrian state’. Peace in Syria is now a little bit more likely.
After a week of new threats to the stability of Syria, with hundreds killed in a series of massacres, this tentative deal is one that many thought might never happen. SDF commander Mazloum Abdi was not in his usual military garb when he signed the deal in Damascus with interim Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa. Abdi is a warlord, ordinarily pictured in fatigues and seen in the northeast of the country, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). On Sunday, he wore a suit to put pen to paper on the long-hoped for agreement.
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