The United States encouraged its Syrian Kurdish allies to reach Monday's landmark deal with the Islamist-led government in Damascus, six sources said, an agreement that could stave off further conflict in northern Syria at a time of uncertainty over the future of U.S. forces deployed there.
The deal aims to stitch back together a country fractured by 14 years of war, paving the way for Kurdish-led forces, which hold a quarter of Syria, to merge with Damascus, along with regional Kurdish governing bodies. Key details of how this will happen have yet to be spelled out, however.
Gen. Mazloum Abdi, head of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), was flown to Damascus for Monday's signing with interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa aboard a U.S. military aircraft, three sources said.
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