Syrian government forces entered the outskirts of a northern city Saturday morning after the command of Kurdish-led fighters mentioned it will evacuate the world in an obvious transfer to keep away from battle.
Army models took management of the town of Maskanah on Saturday, in accordance with the navy, and are persevering with to advance.
There have been a number of confrontations between Kurdish forces and the Syrian navy because the Islamist-led government of interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa got here to energy simply over a yr in the past.
Sharaa has pledged to unify the nation after 14 years of civil struggle, however the Kurds need ensures of their autonomy.
The SDF’s commander, Mazloum Abdi, had pledged on Friday that his troops would start withdrawing from positions east of Aleppo on Saturday, as a part of a broader settlement that was agreed in precept final March.
“Based on calls from friendly countries and mediators, and as a sign of our goodwill to complete the integration process and to adhere to implementing the provisions of the March 10 agreement, we have decided to withdraw our forces…. and to redeploy to areas east of the Euphrates,” Abdi mentioned.
The winding river, which flows south from the Turkish border, is now a de facto line between the 2 sides.
The Syrian navy moved into the city of Deir Hafer, some 50 kilometers east of Aleppo, on Saturday, in accordance with geolocated video.
“Thank God it happened with the least amount of losses,” one resident, Hussein al-Khalaf, informed Reuters. “There’s been enough blood in this country…We have sacrificed and lost enough – people are tired of it.”
The navy additionally took management of two oil fields within the area, in accordance with the state information company SANA.
The Kurds’ withdrawal adopted a go to to the world by a delegation of the US-led worldwide coalition that maintains a presence in northern Syria.
However, additional sporadic clashes continued Saturday.
The SDF accused Syrian government forces of coming into cities earlier than its fighters had accomplished their withdrawal, calling it a breach of the settlement. It mentioned a few of its fighters have been below siege in Deir Hafer “as a result of the Damascus government’s treachery”
In flip the Syrian navy accused Kurdish fighters of firing on a Syrian military patrol close to Maskanah, killing two troopers.
The Syrian navy additionally accused Kurdish models of planting explosives on a bridge on the street east to Raqqa, which stays below Kurdish management.
“Blowing up the bridge would disrupt the agreement, and there would be very severe consequences,” the Syrian Army mentioned in an announcement on Saturday.
As the Kurdish management started preparations to withdraw its forces on Friday, Al-Sharaa issued a decree on the authorized standing and cultural rights of Syrian Kurdish residents.
The Syrian presidency supplied NCS with the textual content, which guarantees full citizenship rights for Kurds, hundreds of whom – as properly as their descendants – have been denied papers for 60 years. The decree additionally acknowledges Kurdish as a “national language” and permits its educating in private and non-private colleges in areas the place Kurds kind a notable share of the inhabitants.
Whether the president’s decree and the SDF’s withdrawal can result in a broader settlement and finish the frequent bouts of clashes stays an open query.
Analysts say the SDF’s withdrawal from areas east of Aleppo seems to stem from a want to keep away from what might have grow to be a dropping battle. Kurdish models have been pushed out of a number of neighborhoods inside Aleppo earlier this month.
Kurdish-led authorities established a semi-autonomous administration in a lot of Syria’s north and east in the course of the civil struggle and have resisted absolutely integrating into the Islamist-led government that took energy after former President Bashar al-Assad was ousted in late 2024.
Damascus reached a take care of the SDF final yr that envisaged full integration of Kurdish fighters within the new Syrian military by the tip of 2025, however progress has been restricted, with each side blaming the opposite.
The US envoy to the area, Tom Barrack, has been concerned with efforts to seal a deal between the government and SDF.