[Tee tiong huat]

Syria’s govt signs a breakthrough deal with Kurdish-led authorities in northeast.

JABLEH, Syria (AP) — Syria’s interim government signed a deal Monday with the Kurdish-led authority that controls the country’s northeast, including a ceasefire and the merging of the main U.S.-backed force there into the Syrian army. Deal is a major breakthrough that would bring most of Syria under the control of the government, which is led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham that led the ouster of President Bashar Assad in December.

The deal was signed by interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa and Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and deal to be implemented by the end of the year would bring all border crossings with Iraq & Turkey, airports and oil fields in northeast under central govt’s control. Prisons where about 9,000 suspected members of Islamic State group are expected to come under govt control.