Syria’s military has reclaimed the country’s main energy-producing region from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, marking one of the biggest losses for the group since the start of the conflict.
It follows a sweeping offensive in the east of the country that preceded the announcement on Sunday of a ceasefire and the loss of two key provinces by the Kurdish-led militia.
It is a stinging defeat for the SDF, which had took control of the region during the 2011-2024 civil war but now faces the threat of extinction. Many parts of the provinces of Al Raqqa and Deir Ezzor fell to the government forces on Sunday, as well as Arab areas near Kurdish clusters in the province of Hasakah.
It leaves the SDF mostly with a pocket of territory in the north-east of the country, officials said. A sizeable proportion of Syria's one million Kurds live in the north-east.
By Sunday evening, shortly before the ceasefire was announced, armoured government forces had entered Raqqa city and were securing it without any major resistance, a Syrian military official told The National.
The retaking earlier of Al Omar oilfield and the Conoco gasfield, as well as others in Deir Ezzor governorate, which borders Iraq, was the first full-scale foray by government forces into SDF-held areas east of the Euphrates after having overrun defensive positions on the western side of the river over the past few days.
A Syrian official told The National the whole of Deir Ezzor, including its eponymous provincial capital, was retaken by the army and tribal fighters from the area. SDF personnel retreated to areas farther east, in Kurdish-majority areas of Hasakah governorate, he said.
“The military campaign has been a promenade,” said the official. The pro-government forces were advancing into Arab areas of Hasakah and nearing the area of Shaddadeh, about 30 kilometres south of the city.
Interior Ministry spokesman Noureddine Al Baba said the adjacent province of Raqqa had been “liberated” and that security forces have spread in the area to protect private and public properties and to “safeguard civilians”. Local sources, however, said SDF forces remained in parts of the province between the Euphrates and the border with Turkey.
The SDF withdrew from areas west of the Euphrates early on Saturday as a gesture of goodwill but then accused Syrian troops of breaking the agreement by continuing to push farther east into towns and oilfields not included in the deal. The lack of resistance has enabled the government's lightning offensive.
The Syrian Petroleum Company said “the Syrian Arab Army has spread its control” over the Deir Ezzor oilfields. As soon as the fields are fully secure, “operation and production” will resume.
Syria produces about 50,000 barrels per day of oil. In 2010, the year before the civil war started, the country officially produced 350,000 barrels per day, although actual production was estimated to have been at 200,000, due to degradation of the oil infrastructure.
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Syrian government military reinforcements and mobile armour on the M4 motorway to Maskanan, 100 kilometres south-east of Aleppo city, on Saturday, January 17, to push Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces out of the area following clashes last week. Getty Images -
Celebrations as Syrian government reinforcements arrive. Getty Images -
Syrian special forces have entered Raqqa district, putting pressure on the Kurdish forces withdrawing from the towns of Deir Hafer and Maskana, as well as a military airport. AFP -
A welcome for the Syrian army following the withdrawal of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Maskanah. Reuters -
Kurdish forces in a pick-up truck on the outskirts of the city of Tabqa in Raqqa province. AFP -
Kurdish forces at Tabqa city limits. AFP -
Syrian government forces fire a rocket towards Kurdish forces near Dibsi Faraj in northern Syrian. AFP -
Signs of combat litter the roads as Syrian government forces move near the front line in Dibsi Faraj, in northern Syria. AFP -
Syrian government forces rest near the front line in Dibsi Faraj, in northern Syria. AFP -
Nechirvan Barzani, President of Iraqi Kurdistan, right, greets US special envoy to Syria Tom Barrack in Erbil. Mr Barrack and Mazloum Abdi, the head of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, arrived in Erbil on January 17. AFP
During the civil war, the SDF, with US support, became one of the country's most powerful groups. It acquired mostly Arab-populated territory until a Turkish intervention in 2015 curbed its gains.
However, the current Syrian authorities have been gradually retaking SDF-held areas over the past a year, with the militia's last strongholds in Aleppo city falling last week.
Days of clashes
Late on Saturday, the government said its forces had regained control of the northern city of Tabqa, its adjacent dam and the Freedom dam west of Raqqa city, despite US calls to halt its advance. Clashes were reported areas of Deir Ezzor as the army made a lightning advance.
US Central Command commander Admiral Brad Cooper had called on Syrian troops to “cease any offensive actions in areas” between the city of Aleppo and Tabqa, about 160km farther east.
Residents of Tabqa gathered on Sunday to celebrate, waving Syria’s new flag amid bursts of celebratory gunfire, after the Syrian army took back the town, where residents said they had lived in constant fear under SDF rule.
“There was a lot of discrimination against us, and indiscriminate arrests,” said Abou Omar, who was gathered with friends in Tabqa’s main square. “The Kurds are our friends; it’s the SDF and the PKK who oppressed us and the Kurds alike.
“We want continuity and a united country. Now we will be able to go everywhere. I haven’t been able to leave the village for years. Under the SDF, we couldn’t even celebrate the fall of the regime.”
The SDF has controlled Tabqa since 2017, when it drove ISIS from the area.
The Euphrates river marked much of the border between territory controlled by the Kurdish-led authorities and that held by Syria’s central government, with the western bank controlled by Damascus.
But the SDF has long held pockets on the river’s western side, including Aleppo's Kurdish-majority districts that it lost in fighting this month, as well as positions in the eastern Aleppo countryside.
After the Syrian army announced on Saturday that it had taken control of the town of Deir Hafir, along with Maskanah and more than a dozen other towns and villages in eastern Aleppo, it pushed its advance farther east.
Both sides accused each other of atrocities in the areas where fighting was taking place. The Syrian government said it condemned the alleged “execution of prisoners and detainees” in Tabqa by the SDF “before their withdrawal”.
The Kurdish forces issued a denial, claiming they had “transferred all prisoners from Church Prison in Tabqa to secure locations outside the city as a responsible precautionary measure”, three days before the clashes erupted.
The US has had to recalibrate its Syria policy to balance years of backing for the SDF – which fought against ISIS – and Washington's support for new Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara, whose rebel forces removed dictator Bashar Al Assad from power in late 2024.
In an effort to end the fighting, US envoy Tom Barrack was in Erbil on Saturday to meet SDF commander Mazloum Abdi and Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani, who has been playing a leading role in mediation efforts. He met Mr Al Shara in Damascus on Sunday before the ceasefire was announced.
Tension rose sharply after five days of deadly clashes between government forces and SDF-affiliated fighters last week over the control of three Kurdish-majority pockets in Aleppo city. The fighting killed dozens of civilians, the SDF said, with many still missing, according to officials.
