In the area of two days, the Syrian military, aided by tribal militia, has pushed Kurdish forces from extensive swathes of northern Syria that they’ve held for greater than a decade.
Among the cities and cities reported to have fallen is Raqqa, as soon as the infamous capital of the Islamic State’s (ISIS) so-called Caliphate. Geolocated video confirmed tribal militia within the coronary heart of the town Sunday, and a military presence in different neighborhoods.
Much of Syria’s oil wealth can be now below the management of the federal government for the primary time in additional than a decade.
After the territorial good points, Syria’s president mentioned Sunday that an settlement had been reached with the primarily Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to finish the combating within the northeast of the nation. The SDF itself has not commented on the reported settlement.
Here’s what we know.
The sudden push into Kurdish-controlled areas got here after clashes earlier this month within the metropolis of Aleppo and the encompassing countryside, the most recent episodes in a tense stand-off between the central authorities and the SDF.
The SDF is a US-backed group that was not half of the insurgent alliance that overthrew Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in 2024.
On Friday, the SDF agreed to withdraw from the Aleppo space to the east financial institution of the Euphrates river, the primary territorial concession it had made to the brand new authorities.
But starting on Saturday, the Syrian military pushed into areas not lined by the settlement, and Kurdish forces seem to have retreated in disarray.
The Syrian military’s advance into a number of areas has disadvantaged the SDF of management over each mineral wealth and wealthy agricultural land.
The military and allied tribes have taken a lot of the provinces of Aleppo, Raqqa and Deir Ezzor, which borders Iraq, and Arab militia have additionally made inroads into Kurdish-held Hasakah province.
In the method, troops have taken management of two hydroelectric dams on the Euphrates, in response to the Syrian Energy Ministry. The bigger of them gives a lot of the nation’s ingesting water and, as soon as renovated, may present some 900 megawatts of electrical energy.
The Syrian military has additionally taken management of oil and gasoline fields in Deir Ezzor province, together with the biggest, referred to as al-Omar, in addition to al-Tanak and Conoco fields, in response to officers.
The settlement launched by the Syrian presidency on Sunday mentioned the federal government would assume fast management of Raqqa and Deir Ezzor and likewise take management of all oil and gasoline fields and worldwide borders.
Civilian establishments in Hasakah, which borders Turkey, can be built-in into the Syrian state, the doc mentioned.
SDF personnel can be built-in into the Syrian military and safety forces on a person foundation, the doc added. The SDF, which has not but commented on Sunday’s settlement, had been insisting on having Kurdish items inside the military.
For years, the SDF has managed many areas largely populated by Arab tribes, many of which have now joined the combat towards them. The SDF’s space of management had expanded because it labored with a US-led coalition within the wrestle towards ISIS, when the fear group managed a lot of northeastern Syria.
When the Assad regime was overthrown, the federal government of interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa rejected the notion of a federal Syria, demanding that Damascus’ writ run all through the nation.
There had been many classes of negotiations between the federal government and Mazloum Abdi, the SDF’s chief. And for some time it appeared settlement is perhaps reached on integrating Kurdish fighters into the Syrian safety forces and lengthening the Damascus authorities’s political management to territory within the north and east of Syria.
In March last year, al-Sharaa and Abdi signed an settlement which the Syrian president mentioned aimed to “ensure the rights of all Syrians in representation and participation in the political process and all state institutions based on competence, regardless of their religious and ethnic backgrounds.”
But the Kurds remained reluctant to surrender areas they managed, and there was no settlement on integrating Kurdish forces into the nationwide military.
Damascus promised the Kurds in depth cultural autonomy such because the use of the Kurdish language in faculties. Indeed, on Friday, al-Sharaa signed a decree promising Kurds cultural and language rights and bestowing Syrian citizenship on 1000’s who had been disadvantaged of Syrian nationality for many years.
The SDF’s management mentioned the concessions didn’t go far sufficient.
At the identical time, many Arabs dwelling in Kurdish-held elements of Syria had been shedding endurance.
In the city of al-Tabqa, which was taken by authorities forces on Saturday in response to a number of movies and witness accounts, resident Mohamed Khalousi informed Reuters that the inhabitants had waited for the arrival of the military to “get rid of this (Kurdish) gang that all people were complaining and tired of.”
Al-Sharaa mentioned Sunday that unhealthy climate had prevented a gathering with Abdi, however insisted that each one excellent points with the SDF can be resolved.
“We advise our Arab tribes to remain calm and allow room for the agreement’s provisions to be implemented,” al-Sharaa mentioned. Arab militia have joined the military in clashes with the SDF since Saturday.
Local activists mentioned there have been clashes Sunday within the close by metropolis of Raqqa, which was held for a number of years by ISIS till it was ousted from the world in 2017. The metropolis noticed some of the fear group’s worst atrocities.
Geolocated video confirmed explosions and snipers on rooftops within the metropolis, in addition to tribal militia celebrating on the streets.
A largely Kurdish administration had run the town since its liberation from ISIS.
Ahmad al-Haj Mulla, a resident of Raqqa, informed NCS earlier Sunday that he had joined within the combating towards the SDF. “The SDF has snipers on many buildings and stationed heavily in the northern side of the city, but we are dealing with them,” he informed NCS in a telephone dialog.
“Anyone who objects to the (SDF’s) autonomous administration ends up in jail,” Mulla alleged. “They should never have been here in the first place.”
Syrian state tv reported that residents of Raqqa “are rising up against the SDF amid a mass defection of city residents,” and mentioned the group’s fighters had been pushed out of the town.
“Raqqa’s community figures will hand the city over in full to the Syrian government to administer it and to safeguard its institutions, security, and stability,” it reported.
The United States had expressed concern that the upheaval would damage the allied effort towards ISIS remnants in rural elements of Syria.
On Saturday, the commander of US Central Command, Admiral Brad Cooper, urged the Syrian authorities “to cease any offensive actions between Aleppo and al-Tabqa” to make sure a typical entrance towards ISIS.
CENTCOM mentioned Saturday that in its latest strike towards extremists in Syria, it had killed an al Qaeda operative with direct ties to an ISIS attacker who killed three Americans in early December.
It’s unclear whether or not Kurdish safety forces are nonetheless guarding the biggest detention camp holding relations of ISIS fighters, at al-Hol, close to the Iraqi border. But geolocated video reveals that Arab militia have taken over the city of Shaddadi, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) to the south.
US Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack, who visited Damascus for talks with al-Sharaa on Sunday, subsequently counseled the ceasefire settlement launched by the presidency as “paving the way for renewed dialogue and cooperation toward a unified Syria,” in a post on X.
He promised the US would “firmly” stand behind the combination course of, “as we safeguard our vital national security interests in defeating ISIS remnants.”