BEIRUT—A U.S.-backed group in Syria is being pressed by the government of President Bashar al-Assad in talks to cede control of its territory to a regime Washington has long sought to unseat. The Kurdish-led group, the Syrian Democratic Forces, which assisted the U.S. in the fight against Islamic State, controls a region stretching across much of northern and eastern Syria, including major cities such as Raqqa and some of the country’s largest oil-and-gas fields.

Source: Wall Street Journal August 22, 2018 17:27 UTC