Syria’s President Signs Agreement With Kurdish Leader Following Slaughter Of Minorities

Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa signed a major integration agreement with the leader of the Kurdish forces in Syria on Monday, set to take place by the end of the year.

The agreement with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) will ensure “the rights of all Syrians in representation and participation in the political process and all state institutions based on competence, regardless of their religious and ethnic backgrounds,” according to Shaara.

Under the agreement, Syria’s Kurdish community — primarily in the east — will be officially recognized as part of the state, and citizenship will be granted to tens of thousands previously denied by Assad, according to CNN. The agreement safeguards Kurdish rights, overturning Assad’s restrictions that banned the Kurdish language in schools and prohibited Kurdish holidays.

Kurdish institutions in northeastern Syria will be integrated into the Syrian state, and displaced Kurds will be allowed to return to their homes under state protection, under the agreement. The Kurds also agreed to support the Syrian state in combating any remnants of Assad’s regime and other threats to its security, reported Kurdish outlet Rudaw.

The agreement comes after militants aligned with Shaara committed brutal revenge killings on members of the Alawite minority — a Shia-offshoot aligned with deposed former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad — who attacked the new regime’s security forces at checkpoints last week. According to the United Kingdom-based watchdog, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), at least 973 civilians have been killed including women and children. An additional 300 members of government security forces and 148 Assad-aligned militants were reportedly killed in the clashes as well.

Shaara launched a “fact-finding committee” into the killings and called for “national unity and domestic peace” on Sunday during a speech broadcast from a mosque near his childhood neighborhood in Damascus.

Shaara has called for all armed factions, including the SDF, to integrate into the Syrian army after he toppled Assad with his U.S.-designated terrorist organization, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), in December. Once affiliated with Al-Qaeda and ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Shaara had a $10 million FBI bounty for almost a decade before it was lifted in 2024.

The People’s Protection Units (YPG), a key U.S.-backed Kurdish faction in the SDF, requested that a special unit be created in the Syrian Army as a condition to joining, but Shaara rejected the demand, CNN reported.

Shaara signed the agreement with SDF General Commander Mazloum Abdi, who called the agreement on X “a real opportunity to build a new Syria that embraces all its components and ensures good neighborliness.”

Crowds reportedly took to the streets of major cities in Syria to applaud the deal.

Bafel Talabani, leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in Iraq, called the deal an “important and positive step toward strengthening coexistence and partnership in the new Syria,” reported Rudaw.

“As always, I fully support the efforts of my brother, Mazloum Abdi, to promote peace and stability in the region,” Talabani added.

The leader of Iraq’s other major Kurdish political party, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), called the agreement “historic” and “an important step toward shaping Syria’s future.”

Diliman Abdulkader, an expert on Kurdish politics and a former Kurdish refugee from Iraq, said he disagrees with the deal, but realizes its political necessity.

“The Kurds remain to be kingmakers when it comes to the future of Syria,” Abdulkader posted to X. “Syria will not remain whole without their demands being part of the conversation and the fact that they must have a seat at the table.”

He added that the Kurds sacrificed more than 15,000 lives in the fight against ISIS and continue to be the jailers of ISIS terrorists.

“The Kurds have gone above and beyond despite their unfortunate circumstance,” he wrote.

Abdulkader said he believes the Kurds are hoping the deal will lead to decentralization and ensure that northeast Syria — where they govern — will remain a safe haven.

“So, let this agreement play out. Give it time,” he wrote.

Shaara has still yet to make a deal with the Druze minority community in the south of the country. Israel — which has a sizable Druze community — vowed to protect them from any harm.

According to the Greek City Times, some Christians were killed, including two Antiochian Greeks, Tony Petrus and his son, Fadi. The outlet also reported that a Christian icon on Tartous was desecrated. The heads of Syria’s Christian Churches released a joint statement last week condemning the bloodshed and urging national reconciliation.