Syria agrees truce with Kurds after troop advance

DAMASCUS:

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday announced a deal with the chief of Kurdish-led forces that includes a ceasefire, after government troops advanced across Kurdish-held areas of the country's north and east.

The agreement, which will also see the Kurdish administration and forces integrate into the state, marks a blow for the minority, which has long held ambitions of preserving the de facto autonomy they had exercised over areas they held for over a decade.

It comes after deadly clashes in the Syrian city of Raqa on Sunday between Kurdish-led forces and local fighters loyal to Damascus.

The deal follows months of stalled negotiations between authorities and the Kurds on integrating their administration and forces into the central government.

Sharaa announced the ceasefire to reporters on Sunday, saying he had been scheduled to meet the chief of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mazloum Abdi, but it was postponed until Monday due to poor weather.

"In order to calm the situation, we decided to sign the agreement," Sharaa said.

Government forces this weekend captured the strategic city of Tabqa in the Raqa region as well as the Euphrates Dam, and have advanced into parts of Deir Ezzor province, including the Al-Omar oil field, the country's largest. That followed advances in Aleppo province.

Clashes reached Raqa city on Sunday, with state media saying SDF gunfire killed two civilians. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor meanwhile reported fighting between the SDF and "local Arab tribal fighters" there.

Sharaa met in Damascus on Sunday with US

envoy Tom Barrack, who called the deal with the Kurds a "pivotal inflection point".