SYRIA’S interim government signed a deal on Monday with the Kurdish-led authority that controls the country’s north-east.

The move includes a ceasefire and the merging of the main United States-backed force there into the Syrian army.

The deal is a major breakthrough that would bring most of Syria under the control of the government, which is led by the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham that led the ousting of President Bashar al-Assad in December.

It was signed by interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa (previously known as Abu Mohammed al-Julani) and Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

The deal, to be implemented by the end of the year, would bring all border crossings with Iraq and Turkey, airports and oil fields in the north-east under the central government’s control. 

Syria’s Kurds will gain their “constitutional rights,” including using and teaching their language, which were suppressed by successive Ba’athist governments from the 1960s.

Hundreds of thousands of Kurds, who were displaced during Syria’s nearly 14-year civil war, will return to their homes and will be given the right to citizenship.