The head of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) Mazloum Abdi said the group remains committed to protecting the gains made by the Kurdish region in north-east Syria after giving up some territory as part of a ceasefire with the Syrian government.
The SDF and the government struck a wide-ranging deal that brings Kurdish civilian and military authorities under state control. The Kurdish-led group agreed to cede control of Deir Ezzor and Raqqa provinces to the Syrian government on Sunday after the army's lightning offensive into the two oil-rich provinces.
In a statement released after the announcement, Mr Abdi said the forces had agreed to withdraw from the two provinces but that they remained committed to protecting the “achievements” the Kurdish region had made.
“This war was imposed on us. We wanted to prevent it, but unfortunately, because it was planned by many forces, it was imposed on us,” he said in a video message broadcast by Kurdish media.
“It was planned to become a civil war, but to avoid this and prevent further meaningless bloodshed, we agreed to withdraw from Deir Ezzor and Raqqa to Hasaka. An agreement was signed on this.”
The SDF and the Syrian government had been engaged in months of talks aimed at bringing the Kurdish-run institutions under the state but discussions had faltered by the end of 2025. After the end-of-year deadline passed, clashes broke out and grew into a government offensive on Kurdish-held areas. Sunday's agreement said the clashes should end, although intermittent fighting was still reported in some areas.
Mr Abdi's remarks came hours after Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara announced the signing of the agreement. US envoy Tom Barrack said it was a “pivotal inflection point”, but that there was still challenging work to be done to finalise details of a comprehensive integration deal.
That did appear to offer some concessions. It said the SDF could nominate military and civilian figures to assume leading roles in the central government and that Hasakeh province, which has a sizeable Kurdish population and is the main stronghold of the SDF, would have a governor appointed by consensus.
A meeting between Mr Al Shara and Mr Abdi is expected to take place on Monday.
