(Reuters) -Syrian Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra and SDF commander General Mazloum Abdi agreed on Tuesday to a comprehensive ceasefire on all fronts in north and northeastern Syria, the defence ministry said.

The truce is effective immediately, the ministry added.

Recent clashes between the two sides have cast a shadow over a landmark deal signed in March between the Kurdish-led SDF and Syria’s new Islamist-led government to integrate the regional force into state institutions.

The deal aimed to help stitch together a country fractured by 14 years of civil war and pave the way for Kurdish-led forces that hold a quarter of Syria to merge with Damascus, along with regional Kurdish governing bodies.

(Reporting by Jana Choukeir; editing by Aidan Lewis and Mark Heinrich)

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