Syrian security convoy heads to key Kurdish city under US-backed deal

Feb 3 (Reuters) - Syrian government security forces moved towards the Kurdish-controlled northeastern city of Qamishli on Tuesday, security sources and witnesses said, as they implement a U.S.-backed deal to bring Kurdish-run regions under the control of Damascus.

The deal, declared on Friday, staved off the prospect of further confrontation between Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa's government and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which lost swathes of eastern and northern Syria to government troops in January.

The government forces are expected to be stationed in several Syrian state buildings in Qamishli and also at the city's airport, a Syrian official and a Kurdish security source told Reuters ahead of the deployment.

Reuters witnesses said dozens of villagers obstructed a convoy of security forces as it approached the outskirts of the city, the de facto political centre of the Kurdish-led administration.

On Tuesday, interior ministry vehicles entered the ethnically-mixed city of Hasakah, about 80km (47 miles) south of Qamishli.

Friday's accord foresees a phased integration of Kurdish fighters with government forces. The United States has hailed the agreement as a historic milestone towards unity and reconciliation after 14 years of civil war in Syria.

The SDF was once Washington's main Syrian ally, playing a vital part in the fight against Islamic State militants.

But its status weakened as U.S. President Donald Trump built ties with Sharaa, a former al Qaeda commander who has now brought almost all of Syria back under the authority of Damascus.

(Reporting by Khalil Ashawi, Feras Maqdisi, Firas Al Daalati and Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by Aidan Lewis)