Syria Signs Deal To Merge Kurdish-led SDF Into State Institutions

Syria under the Jolani regime, or interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, has inked a landmark deal with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to integrate the armed group by back the US with state institutions.

A televised Monday signing ceremony was held with al-Sharaa and the head of the SDF, Mazloum Abdi. The agreement hails the unity of Syria and declares that ”all civil and military institutions in northeastern Syria” will be merged “into the administration of the Syrian state, including border crossings, the airport, and oil and gas fields.”

Al Jazeera emphasizes in the wake of the historic deal that “The agreement, if implemented, would bring that territory under the full control of the Syrian central government.”

This of course immediately raises the question of the ongoing US occupation, which has been on for years in Syria’s northeast oil and gas rich territory. The Pentagon has been occupying these energy resources, which is enough to meet Syria’s domestic needs.

The long-running theft of Syria’s oil – much of which has reportedly been ferried across the border into Iraq – was by design a method to strangle the prior Assad government and deprive the state of badly needed resources.

Will the Syrian Kurds now simply hand these oil and gas complexes over to Jolani and his forces?

If the Pentagon occupation persists, this could result in fresh clashes. US special forces have been supporting the Syrian SDF – and in fact the Kurdish-led group is largely a creation of Washington. 

Turkey has been seen as helping Jolani, and has long chafed at the US presence, given it propped up the Kurds.

The timing of this deal is awkward and ironic, given at this very moment there are mass killings of Alawites and Christians along the Syrian coast near Latakia.

Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar points out: “For Damascus, once you have given special status to a certain ethnicity, or a certain sect, then the question is [for] other sects like Alawites or Druze, are they also going to have special status?… That is not clear for now.”

The outline and main points of the new Damascus-SDF agreement are said to be vague, and underscores full Kurdish citizenship in the Syrian state and merging of institutions; however, it’s unclear the degree to which the Kurds will be required to lay down their arms. For the time being, they are unlikely to voluntarily do so.