The Kurdish-led militia that controls northeast Syria agreed on Monday to merge with the country’s new government, marking a major breakthrough for Damascus in its efforts to unify a country wrestling with violent turmoil.
The agreement, announced by the office of Syria’s presidency and signed by both parties, stipulated that the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces would integrate “all civil and military institutions” into the new Syrian state by the end of the year, including its prized oil and gas fields.
The deal also outlined “the rights of all Syrians to representation and participation in the political process,” amid repeated pledges by Syria’s new leadership to form an inclusive government after years of sectarian strife.
The timing of the agreement, which came amid violent clashes in Syria’s coastal region that have left more than 1,300 people dead, signaled a moment of reprieve for Syria’s new interim president, Ahmed al-Shara.
Since the rebel coalition headed by Mr. al-Shara toppled the dictator Bashar al-Assad in December, the new government has sought to unify the complex web of rebel groups operating across Syria — the most powerful of them being the Kurdish-led forces in the northeast. However, the security situation has remained unstable, and the Kurdish militia has been among the most challenging groups to bring under the new government’s fold.
Syria’s new government has ordered all armed groups in the country to dissolve, and in recent weeks, several prominent militias have agreed to work with the new authorities, despite their skepticism about sweeping promises to create an inclusive government. As a rebel leader, Mr. al-Shara commanded an armed group once allied with Al Qaeda, and skeptics question whether he has given up its former hard-line jihadist views.
It remains unclear whether those militias have dissolved as directed and fully integrated into a single national army under Mr. al-Shara’s authority, or if they have simply agreed to cooperate with Mr. al-Shara’s government but remain as semi-independent forces in regions they effectively control.
For years, the Kurdish-led militia has been the main U.S. partner in the fight in Syria against the Islamic State, and made hard-fought territorial gains amid the country’s civil war, to the extent that it now administers a de facto state in Syria’s northeast. The group has long sought to position itself as the protectors of Syrian Kurds, who make up about 10 percent of the country’s population.
Despite the breakthrough on Monday, there were some questions that were left unanswered.
For one, it remained unclear whether the S.D.F. would be allowed to operate as a distinct military bloc within Syria’s armed forces, a key demand in recent months by the Kurdish-led administration. It was also unclear how exactly the call for “a cease-fire on all Syrian territories” would be carried out as stipulated in the agreement.
Even on Monday, fighting continued to rage in the northeast between Kurdish-led forces and armed groups backed by Turkey, a close ally and backer of the new government in Damascus.
Turkey has long viewed the S.D.F. as an extension of Kurdish separatist insurgents who have fought the Turkish state for four decades. Amid dramatic changes in Syria’s political landscape, many Kurds have grown unnerved at the prospect of ending up worse off under a government supported by their longtime foe, Turkey.