UPDATE - Syrian president announces ceasefire, full integration deal between government, SDF

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS

By Mohammad Sio

ISTANBUL (AA) – Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa announced Sunday a comprehensive ceasefire and full integration agreement between the Syrian government and the SDF, outlining sweeping measures to restore state authority in the country’s northeast.

The SDF is dominated by the terrorist group YPG, the Syrian branch of the terrorist PKK.

According to the terms published by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), the agreement provides for an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire across all fronts and contact lines between government forces and the SDF.

The deal is to take effect in parallel with the withdrawal of all SDF-affiliated military formations to areas east of the Euphrates River as a preparatory step for redeployment.

Under the deal, the provinces of Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa will be handed over fully and immediately to the Syrian government, both administratively and militarily. This includes the transfer of all civilian institutions and facilities in the two provinces.

The agreement stipulates that current employees in Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa will be formally retained within the relevant Syrian state ministries, and that the government will not take punitive measures against SDF personnel or members of the civil administration in the two provinces.

It also stipulates the integration of all civilian institutions in Hasakah province into Syrian state institutions and administrative structures.

As part of the deal, the Syrian government will assume control of all border crossings and oil and gas fields in the region. These sites are to be secured by Syrian forces to ensure that revenues are returned to the state, according to SANA.

Under the deal, all SDF military and security personnel will be integrated "individually" into the structures of Syria’s defense and interior ministries following mandatory security vetting.

Those accepted will be granted official military ranks and financial and logistical entitlements in accordance with regulations, while committing to the protection of the social and cultural particularities of Kurdish-majority areas.

The agreement stipulates that the SDF leadership will not recruit remnants of the ousted Assad regime and will submit official lists identifying former regime officers present in northeast Syria.

It also provides for the issuance of a presidential decree appointing a nominee to serve as a governor of Hasakah province, in a move described as a guarantee for political participation and local representation.

In the northern city of Ayn al-Arab (Kobani), the deal calls for the removal of heavy military presence, the formation of a local security force composed of city residents, and the retention of a local police force administratively affiliated with the Syrian Interior Ministry.

The agreement further transfers responsibility for ISIS (Daesh) terror group detainees and camps, along with the forces guarding them, to the Syrian government, which will assume full legal and security authority over these facilities.

It also allows for the adoption of candidate lists submitted by SDF leadership for senior military, security and civilian posts within the state structure.

The agreement also welcomes Presidential Decree No. 13 of 2026, which recognizes Kurdish cultural and linguistic rights and addresses long-standing civil and legal issues affecting stateless Kurdish residents and property rights accumulated over previous decades.

On the regional security front, the SDF is committed to removing all non-Syrian members of the PKK from Syrian territory, a step framed as essential to preserving national sovereignty and regional stability.

The Syrian government, for its part, is committed to continuing counterterrorism operations against the ISIS terror group as an active member of the international coalition, including coordination with the US to safeguard regional security.

The agreement also calls for efforts to reach understandings on the safe and dignified return of residents displaced from Afrin and the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood in Aleppo.

The deal follows a military operation launched by the Syrian Army that resulted in the recapture of large areas in eastern and northeastern Syria, after repeated violations by the SDF of agreements signed with the government about a year ago and its failure to implement their provisions.