The governments of Syria and Syrian Kurdistan have signed an agreement on the full integration of the region

The central government of Syria and the autonomous government of Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava) signed an agreement on a ceasefire and full integration of the region on January 18.

The New York Times writes about this.

The 14-point agreement followed a two-day offensive by government forces in the autonomous region. On January 17, government forces captured a dam, two oil fields, and a military airbase from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). On January 18, the Syrian military captured the Euphrates Dam, one of the country’s most important water and hydroelectric facilities. Energy Ministry officials told Syrian state media that control of the dam would help the government maintain water and electricity supplies throughout the country.

Under the new agreement, the Syrian Democratic Forces will only hand over two of the three provinces they control — Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor — to government forces. Only one province — the northeastern Al-Hasakah province — will remain under the control of the SDF.

The central government will take responsibility for border crossings and appoint governors for all provinces, with government institutions coming under Damascusʼ control. The central government will also take control of all gas and oil fields and prisons where more than 8 000 Islamic State members are being held.

The Kurds were left with only cultural autonomy — no political one. On Friday, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa legally recognized Kurdish as a national language alongside Arabic, and Nowruz — the new year of the Iranian peoples, who are the Kurds — as a public holiday.

• The new Syrian government and the Kurdish autonomy signed an agreement on the integration of the Syrian Democratic Forces in March last year. However, the negotiations later reached an impasse. While the previous version of the agreement had the SDF joining the unified armed forces as battalions, now it seems that their fighters will join individually.

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