ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A senior US senator on Monday raised doubts and concerns about the newly-announced ceasefire agreement between the Syrian transitional government and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), warning that Washington has not yet received a detailed briefing on the deal.
Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator and a longtime supporter of the SDF, said neither he nor any other senator he knows has been provided with a full analysis of the agreement announced on Sunday, after days of heavy clashes between SDF forces and Damascus.
In a posts on X, Graham said he has "not received nor do I know any Senator that has received a detailed analysis of the agreement," hoping that the deal is "full of promise and transformative, but I have concerns and questions."
The 14-point agreement - announced late Sunday - mandates the withdrawal of SDF forces from key provinces such as Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor and the integration of SDF fighters, on an "individual" basis and after security vetting, into Syria’s ministries of defense and interior. It also transfers control of oil and gas fields, border crossings, and major prisons holding Islamic State (ISIS) suspects to the central government in Damascus.
Before the deal was reached, government forces made rapid advances, seizing several locations including dams, oil fields, and towns such as Tabqa and parts of Deir ez-Zor following heavy clashes with the SDF.
Graham stressed the strategic importance of the US partnership with the SDF.
"One of America’s primary national security interests with respect to Syria has been our partnership with the SDF, who led the effort to defeat ISIS and to counter an ISIS comeback" he said.
The Kurdish-led SDF serves as the de facto military force in the region. Until Syria joined the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS in November, the SDF had been the coalition’s sole on-the-ground partner, playing a key role in ISIS’s territorial defeat in Syria in 2019.
"For years, we have been working hand in glove with the mostly Kurdish SDF to keep ISIS at bay,” the outspoken senator said.
The senator also raised a series of pointed questions about the deal’s regional dimensions, asking: "was this ceasefire agreement negotiated with any regional partners other than Turkey? Were any Turkish forces involved in any recent incursions into Kurdish territory? Does this agreement envision Turkish soldiers on the ground in the future in this region?"
He also questioned whether Israel had been consulted before the agreement was finalized. "Finally, was there any contact or coordination with Israel before this agreement was negotiated and what input did they give, if any?"
Graham concluded that he has "more questions than answers" about the agreement, saying that he is "one of many Senators that has a close relationship with the SDF and will expect full answers to these questions and more ASAP."
The agreement marks a major shift in Syria’s fragmented political and military landscape following the fall of former ruler Bashar al-Assad in late 2024. It effectively ends more than a decade of the Kurdish self-administration in northeastern Syria (Rojava), placing large parts of the country under the authority of the new transitional leadership headed by Ahmad al-Sharaa.
While Damascus has framed the deal as a step toward reunifying the country, key questions remain over how security vetting will be implemented, how Kurdish-majority areas such as Hasaka will be governed, and how the rights of Syria’s diverse ethnic and religious communities will be guaranteed under the new arrangement.
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