Al Majalla's exclusive interview with YPG commander Mazloum Abdi gives great insight into a landmark deal reached between Damascus and Syria's Kurds. This is my take on what Abdi really meant.

After a hugely important deal to integrate Syria's Kurds, there is a growing realisation among myriad factions that national unity is crucial for the country's survival

Al Majalla interviewed the SDF commander who shared his thinking prior to the landmark decision, which also guarantees constitutional rights for Syrian Kurds

While solving the SDF situation in itself will not guarantee success for the larger Syria project, failing to integrate them will almost certainly torpedo that project

Increased cross-border operations have followed an attack claimed by the PKK in Ankara as frustration grows over the seeming unwillingness of allies to admit links and act accordingly

The SDF commander rejects demands to disband his forces and tells Al Majalla in an exclusive interview that US-Russian tension east of the Euphrates is 'under control'

The conflict in Deir ez-Zor marks some of the most serious internal strife within the SDF since the creation of the US-backed forces in late 2015.

The arrest of a local leader has highlighted tensions over which groups are in control of a fragmented and war-torn land. More violence now looks likely as political faultines are revealed

This is the third IS leader to have been killed in 14 months — placing the leadership of the worldwide jihadist movement under serious and unprecedented strain