Syrian Kurds celebrate deal with Damascus as coastal residents remain wary after violence

QAMISHLI, Syria — In the city of Qamishli in northeast Syria, revelers took to the streets after the announcement of a breakthrough deal between the central government in Damascus and local Kurdish-led authorities, dancing and chanting “One, one, one — the Syrian people are one,” as cars drove by honking in celebration.

The scenes of elation following Monday night’s declaration came in sharp contrast to the grim scenes in coastal communities wracked by days of clashes that broke out last week between government forces and armed groups affiliated with deposed President Bashar Assad.

Monitoring groups said hundreds of civilians were killed in revenge attacks, primarily targeting members of the Alawite religious minority to which Assad belongs.

Some families took refuge in a Russian air base in the coastal province of Latakia as thousands more fled to neighboring Lebanon, mostly through irregular border crossings in the country’s north. The U.N. refugee agency reported at least 7,616 people had fled to northern Lebanon where humanitarian organizations were handing out food and blankets.

Lebanon is hosting more than 755,000 registered Syrian refugees, with hundreds of thousands more believed to be unregistered. Since the fall of Assad, the flow had begun to reverse, with the U.N. reporting that nearly 260,000 Syrian refugees have returned home since November, about half of them coming from Lebanon.

But the outbreak of violence last week has threatened to reverse that flow.

While a tense calm prevailed over most of the Syrian coast Tuesday, families were still wading across a river marking the border between Syria and northern Lebanon’s Akkar province, some carrying children on their backs.

Radwan Alo fled his home in the countryside outside Qardaha, the hometown of the Assad family, and crossed the river into Lebanon. Alo said his twin uncles were killed by armed men, who he believes aimed at “a complete extermination of the Alawite sect.” He has been unable to reach his wife and children who stayed behind to find out if they are safe.

The U.N. Human Rights Office has documented the killing of 111 civilians so far, saying in a statement Tuesday, “the process of verification is ongoing, and the actual number of people killed is believed to be significantly higher.” The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, has reported nearly 1,000 civilians killed. The Associated Press has not been able to independently verify the figure.

Syrian authorities have formed a committee tasked with investigating the attacks on civilians and in recent days announced a series of arrests of people who allegedly took part in the massacres.

At a press conference Tuesday, Yasser Al-Farhan, spokesman for the committee, promised that “no one is above the law” and said that the panel will present its findings to the president’s office and the judiciary. He said the committee will set up a witness protection program for those who come forward to report crimes.

Meanwhile, Kurds in northeast Syria were hopeful that the agreement announced Monday, which includes a ceasefire and the merging of the U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces into the Syrian army, would end years of fighting between Kurdish forces and Turkish-backed groups in northern Syria and allow displaced people to return home.

While the details of its implementation remain to be worked out, the deal signaled a step toward stabilizing Syria and consolidating control of the country under a single central authority in Damascus.

Malak Ibrahim, a Kurdish man who was displaced to Qamishli from the town of Afrin eight years earlier when Turkish-backed forces seized control of his area, said he is now hopeful that “the injustice will end, so we all can go back to our homes.” The agreement inked Monday promises to protect the rights of the Kurds.

Arab residents of the area also said they hope the deal will bring an end to years of conflict.

“We want to end the bloodshed,” said Majdal Hamza, an Arab from Qamishli countryside: “We are all brothers in one country.”

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Associated Press journalist Yahya Habchiti in Akkar, Lebanon, contributed to this report. Sewell reported from Beirut.