The surprise deal inked on Monday by Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, and the commander in chief of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mazlum Kobane, marks a turning point in the fortunes of Syria’s long-oppressed Kurdish minority. It also augurs the rise of Kobane from a veteran guerrilla leader to a legitimate and weighty figure in Syrian national politics who is already helping Sharaa unite the country amid the worst spasm of violence since Bashar al-Assad’s fall, which saw hundreds of Alawites killed by armed Sunni vigilantes over the past week. 

The agreement, facilitated by the United States and greenlit by Turkey, is being billed as a significant victory for Sharaa. If anything, it is a significant victory for the Kurds. Sharaa had, until recently, sidelined Kobane and the Kurds’ self-declared Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, which controls a third of Syria, including much of its oil, hydraulic power and agricultural land, shutting them out of a National Dialogue Conference that was held on Feb. 24 to map out the country’s future. 

The main reason for this was Kobane’s refusal to cede to Sharaa’s demand that his forces merge with a new national army, with SDF fighters joining as individuals rather than as a distinct group and the non-Syrians among them purged. This was a red line for Sharaa and Turkey, which holds de facto veto power over the interim government’s dealings with the Kurds.   

No such condition was articulated in the eight-point accord signed before the cameras by Sharaa and Kobane. Rather, the sides pledged to integrate all civilian and military institutions in northeast Syria into the Syrian state administration, including the airport in Qamishli and the region’s oil and gas fields. Executive committees tasked with implementing the agreement would “strive” to do so no later than the end of the year.