By Timour Azhari, Phil Stewart, Jonathan Spicer and Suleiman Al-Khalidi DAMASCUS (Reuters) -The United States encouraged its Syrian Kurdish allies to reach Monday's landmark deal with the Islamist-led government in Damascus,

It was a development in the Syrian drama almost as unexpected as the stunningly swift fall of the Assad regime that had dominated this country for decades.

The Syrian Transitional Government has reached a rather unexpected agreement with the Kurdish armed groups of the Arab Republic regarding their integration into state institutions. This happened as part of efforts to unite the country's various communities after a decade of civil war and amid clashes between government forces and Syrian