“The United States welcomes the recently announced agreement between the Syrian interim authorities and the Syrian Democratic Forces to integrate the northeast into a unified Syria,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.
Rubio stressed that Washington will continue monitoring the new Syrian administration’s decisions, “noting with concern the recently deadly violence against minorities,” after mass killings of mostly Alawite civilians, allegedly by security forces, took place along western Syria’s coastal areas in response to attacks by Bashar al-Assad loyalists on Thursday.
The EU also welcomed the deal, signed between Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and SDF chief Mazloum Abdi, as one that “could pave the way for increased stability and a better future for many Syrians.”
The agreement seeks to integrate the Kurdish-led SDF into Syria’s state institutions, recognizes the Kurds as an integral part of Syrian society, includes a countrywide ceasefire, and stipulates the return of displaced Syrians to their hometowns.
“We encourage the parties to work on implementation and we stand ready to support,” the EU said in a statement, while also condemning the violence along Syria’s western coast.
The Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), which serves as the SDF’s political wing, said on Tuesday that the deadly events in western Syria sped up the agreement.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, reported that around 1,500 people, mostly Alawite citizens, have been killed in the violence.
Bassam Ishak, a Washington-based member of the SDC’s presidential council, additionally told Rudaw that the deal was mediated by international actors, mainly the US.
The US is the primary backer of the SDF, who fought the lion’s share of the battle to drive the Islamic State (ISIS) out of Syria and arrested thousands of the group’s fighters. The Kurdish-led force holds around 10,000 ISIS prisoners and more than 40,000 people, mostly wives and children of ISIS militants, at the al-Hol camp in Hasaka.
