Syrian authorities and Kurdish officials announced commitment to new ceasefire

On Tuesday Syrian authorities and Kurdish officials announced a commitment to a new ceasefire, as part of a review of a deal to integrate Kurdish forces into government institutions, as Washington said the Kurds’ job in countering ISIS was over, after supporting them for years.

Damascus’s announcement of a new understanding and giving the Kurds four days to agree on its implementation comes after Kurdish forces, who controlled about a quarter of Syria’s territory in recent years, retreated to towns and villages where Kurds are the majority in Hasakah province, their last stronghold in the northeast.

After a military escalation between the two sides that began in the city of Aleppo on the sixth of this month, President Ahmed al Sharaa, who enjoys the support of the United States to extend his influence over the entire Syrian territory, announced on Sunday that an agreement had been reached with the Syria Democratic Forces (SDF), which stipulated a ceasefire and a comprehensive integration of civil and military self-administration institutions within the framework of the Syrian state.

As the two sides exchanged accusations of violating the ceasefire, government forces advanced into Arab-majority areas controlled by the Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) in Raqqa and Deir Ezzor provinces, and sent reinforcements on Tuesday towards the city of Hasakah, at a time when Kurdish officials announced the collapse of negotiations with Damascus.

On Tuesday evening, the Syrian presidency announced the achievement of a joint understanding between the Syrian government and the Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) on a number of issues related to the future of Hasakeh province.

It reported that the SDF was given four days to consult in order to develop a detailed plan for the mechanism of integrating the areas in practice, in conjunction with the Ministry of Defense’s announcement of a four-day ceasefire.

The SDF announced its commitment to the ceasefire, stressing its readiness to move forward with the implementation of the agreement in the service of calm and stability.

According to the Syrian presidency’s announcement, Syrian forces won’t enter the centers of the cities of Hasakah and Qamishli and Kurdish villages if the agreement goes ahead, and the timetable and details of the peaceful integration of Hasakah province will be discussed later.

The agreement allows SDF commander Mazloum Abdi to propose candidates for the positions of assistant minister of defense and governor of Hasakah, in addition to names for representation in the People’s Assembly, according to the Syrian presidency.

Those details weren’t included in the basic agreement announced by Sharaa on Sunday and signed by Abdi, who said, “we agreed to stop a war imposed on us”.

The new understanding included an agreement between the two sides to integrate all SDF military and security forces within the ministries of defense and interior, with discussions continuing on the detailed mechanism of integration, as well as integrating civilian institutions into the structure of the Syrian government.

Kurdish forces withdrew on Tuesday to Kurdish-majority areas in Hasakeh province, Abdi said Tuesday, stressing that protecting them is a red line.

The withdrawal included al Hol camp, which is home to more than 24,000 people, including 6,200 foreigners, from the families of ISIS fighters.

Mazloum Abdi on Tuesday called on the Washington-led international coalition to shoulder its responsibilities for protecting facilities where Islamic State elements are being held in Syria, after Kurdish fighters withdrew from a number of them.

In the evening, US President Donald Trump said in an interview with the New York Post that he had helped thwart the escape of European jihadists from a prison in Syria.

Trump said that “European terrorists were in jail… They made a prison break.

“In cooperation with the Syrian government and the new Syrian president, all prisoners were arrested and returned to prison,” he added.

The US president also stressed that he supports Sharaa’s offensive against Kurdish forces, pointing out that the Syrian president “is working very hard… He’s a tough guy and he has a rather tough record… But you can’t put a church choir singer there to get the job done”.

Shortly after the agreement was announced, US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said in a post on X that the primary purpose of the SDF as a major force on the ground to combat ISIS is largely over.

“Syrian authorities are now ready and in a position to assume security responsibilities, including prisons where extremist group elements are held and camps where their family members are held,” he said.

In related context, the Syrian Ministry of Defense announced on Tuesday that it was ready to take over al Hol camp and all ISIS prisons”.

The SDF, which includes Arab fighters, played a pivotal role in the years of the Syrian conflict during Bashar al Assad’s rule by fighting, with US-backed jihadist grouping, and its success in virtually eliminating it in Syria.

As a result, it was able to extend its control over large areas in the north and east of the country, including large oil fields, and established self-administration there.

Since Assad’s fall, however, the new authorities have declared their determination to unite the country under the banner of government forces.

It has entered into negotiations with the Kurds to integrate their forces and institutions into government institutions.

In recent days, the Kurds have lost large swathes of their areas of control in the north and east of the country as government forces advanced.

Syrian government forces on Tuesday sent reinforcements towards Hasakah, as on Tuesday morning huge convoy of government forces, including armored vehicles and vehicles carrying soldiers were seen on the international road to the city of Hasakah.

In the city of Hasakah, dozens of Kurdish residents, including women and the elderly, carrying machine guns in support of the Syria Democratic Forces (SDF), who have deployed checkpoints in and around the city and conducted heavy patrols.

In a statement on Monday night, the Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) called on Kurdish young men and women inside and outside the country to “unite … and joining the ranks of the resistance”.

The Kurds are divided among four countries – Syria, Iraq, Iran and Türkiye, with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) vowing on Tuesday to “never abandon Syria’s Kurds at all costs”.

Violent clashes broke out on Tuesday between Turkish police and pro-Kurdish demonstrators at the Turkish-Syrian borders, after more than 1,000 demonstrators gathered at the invitation of the pro-Kurdish Equality and Peoples’ Democracy Party.