The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Council said it and Damascus had decided to “form committees on various levels” to develop negotiations.

“Al Assad will never go for any Iraq-style autonomous area,” Fawaz Gerges, Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the London School of Economic, told Gulf News in a phone interview from London. “The Kurds realize this is the beginning of the end of the Syrian war. They also know they have few options. Turkey is gunning for them. Their only effective course of action is talks with the regime.”

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Council said it and the regime had decided to “form committees on various levels” to develop negotiations, and chart a road map to democracy and decentralization.

Gerges said the Kurds had put all their eggs in the US basket. “They are trying to milk their relationship with the US as much as they can. And they are hoping for the US to stick around but are also positioning themselves for a deal with the Al Assad regime.”

It is believed Al Assad wants to spread at least the nominal authority of his regime in all of Syrian territory.

Apart from US support, one of the biggest cards the Kurds hold is their control of most of Syria’s oil and water resources. “Both Al Assad and Russia realize he cannot govern effectively without having resources. In this sense, there is a convergence of interests between the SDF and the regime. The Kurds want to prevent a regime offensive at all costs.”

Syria’s Kurds have been put on guard towards Washington over the Trump administration’s conflicting statements about its plans in Syria, and over pressure exerted on the US by Turkey, which has staged military incursions into Syria to battle the YPG, a Kurdish militia that spearheads the SDF.

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