The commander of the Syria Democratic Forces says he has accepted the agreement with Damascus to stop a war that was imposed on him
Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) commander Mazloum Abdi said on Sunday he had accepted the agreement announced by Syrian President Ahmed al Sharaa to stop a war imposed on the Kurds after government forces advanced into areas they control in northern Syria.
“The determination was clear to impose this war on us,” he said in a statement broadcast by the Kurdish channel Ronahi, adding, “In order not to turn this war into a civil war… We agreed to withdraw from the areas of Deir Ezzor and Raqqa to Hasakah to stop this war”.
He vowed to explain the terms of the deal to the Kurds after returning from Damascus, where Sharaa is expected to meet on Monday.
Abdi said that the plan for the outbreak of a civil war has been drawn up by many parties and this war has been imposed on them.
Mazloum Abdi posted a message following the signing of an agreement with Damascus, in which he said: “Tomorrow we will go to Damascus and meet to discuss these issues”.
The SDF commander-in-chief added: “We’ve provided many martyrs and wounded in this war, and we wanted the number of civilian casualties not to rise, so we withdrew from the Deir Ezzor and Raqqa areas towards Hasakah, and on this basis the agreement was reached”.
Mazloum Abdi continued: “We held several meetings to stop the war, including the Erbil meeting”.
The statement comes in light of Syrian President Ahmed al Sharaa’s signing of an agreement with the SDF earlier today that stipulates a comprehensive ceasefire and its full integration within the Syrian state institutions, especially the army and security services, and the extension of state sovereignty over the northern and eastern regions of the country, which has been widely welcomed by the Arab and international community, especially after the violent clashes that have recently taken place in northeastern Syria.
The agreement between the Syrian government and the SDF came after violent clashes that broke out last Saturday morning between the Syrian army and the SDF, immediately after the start of the implementation of the initial agreement, which stipulates the latter’s withdrawal from the areas west of the Euphrates River and its redeployment eastward, but things quickly deteriorated, turning into armed confrontations that resulted in deaths and injuries, as well as severe damage to the infrastructure of the affected areas.
It’s worth mentioning that on Friday, the Syrian president issued Presidential Decree No. 13 of 2026, which states that Syrian Kurdish citizens constitute an essential and authentic part of the Syrian people, and that their cultural and linguistic identity is an integral part of Syria’s pluralistic and unified national identity.
