Damascus-SDF agreement mediated by international actors, US: SDC

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) stated on Tuesday that the recent violence in west Syria accelerated the landmark agreement between the Syrian Democratic Forces and the new leadership in Damascus, emphasizing that the deal was mediated by international actors, namely the United States.

Violence erupted in the Alawite-majority coastal areas of western Syria after loyalists of ousted Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad on Thursday launched attacks on security forces affiliated with the new Syrian leadership. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) on Monday reported that around 1,500 people, mostly Alawite civilians, have been killed in the violence.

The SDC, which serves as the political wing of the SDF stated on Tuesday that the deadly events that unfolded in west Syria “helped accelerate the conclusion” of the agreement between the new Syrian leadership and the SDF to integrate the Kurdish-led group into Damascus state forces.

A Washington-based member of the SDC’s presidential council, Bassam Ishak, additionally told Rudaw that the deal was reached through “international mediation efforts, led by the United States.”

Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and SDF chief Mazloum Abdi signed a landmark agreement on Monday to integrate the SDF into Syria's state institutions.

The two sides agreed to “integrate all civil and military institutions in northeast Syria [Rojava] under the administration of the Syrian state, including border crossings, the [Qamishli International] Airport, and oil and gas fields,” read a statement by the Syrian Presidency.

The statement also emphasized that “the Kurdish community is indigenous to the Syrian state, which ensures this community’s right to citizenship and all of its constitutional rights.”

Of note, a voice recording was leaked on Monday and attributed to SDF spokesperson Farhad Shami. In the leak, whose contents were later confirmed by SDF-affiliated media, Shami is heard as describing the deal between the Damascus leadership and the SDF as “preliminary” and that “it was definitely a result of American mediation.”

Ishak added that the integration of the SDF into Syria's security system would occur gradually “from now until the end of this year” to ensure the security of Rojava residents.

The SDC spokesman also slammed the voices “from abroad and within that are trying to undermine” the agreement between Damascus and the SDF and accuse the SDF “of being separatists.”

The SDF holds around 10,000 Islamic State (ISIS) prisoners and more than 40,000 people, mostly wives and children of ISIS militants, at the al-Hol camp in Hasaka city, northeast of Rojava.

The SDC spokesman confirmed that “a special committee will be formed” to pursue the prisoners' dossier in cooperation with the international coalition forces present in Syria since “the issue of prisons is an international affair, as there are detainees from almost all nationalities of the world.”