ATHENS, Greece — Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras capitulated in Brussels to keep his country part of the euro. He returned home hours later Monday to find a nation split apart with the difficult task ahead of uniting lawmakers behind a deal they once denounced.

After a marathon, 17-hour summit that turned into one of the most contentious diplomatic standoffs in European Union history, Tsipras acquiesced to a punishing ultimatum from European leaders.

In exchange for a $96 billion rescue – Greece’s third in five years – he agreed to lightning-fast passage of reforms starting Wednesday, and a pledge to strap his nation into a fiscal straitjacket to save its banks and stay in the euro common currency.

He agreed to far more than simple austerity, pledging even to stage what may amount to a fire sale of Greek utilities, even plots of land on its islands, to help pay back its huge debt.

For a man once seen as a leftist maverick who had pledged to free Greece from the shackles of financial injustice, his decision to surrender to European demands immediately sparked an insurrection within his unlikely ruling coalition of the far-left and the far-right.

The one thing his allies had in common was a joint enemy – Greece’s creditor nations in Europe. And now he faces a tough and humbling battle to rush it through parliament.

Every point is a potential political fight. They include creditor-demanded overhauls to the Greek tax and pensions system.

He may have to expel renegades from his Syriza party and look to make other political alliances of convenience to get the package through the 300-seat parliament.

Without an official blessing from parliament, the promised financial lifelines could be pulled back and Greece would be pitched back into full-scale crisis.

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