A four-day ceasefire between the Syrian government and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which expired on Saturday night, has been extended by 15 days, offering a brief respite amid mounting tension.
Government troops have seized areas of northern and eastern territory in the past two weeks from the SDF in a rapid turn of events.
Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara's forces were closing in on the last SDF strongholds earlier this week when he abruptly announced a ceasefire, giving them until Saturday night to lay down arms and come up with a plan to integrate with Syria's army – or to resume fighting.
Earlier on Saturday, a Syrian official said the SDF had not responded to the government's attempts to reach out. At the same time, the SDF accused the government of moving towards escalation in a “systematic manner” through military build-ups.
However, about an hour before midnight, Syria's defence ministry announced that its forces would cease military operations for a further 15 days to support a continuing US operation to transfer ISIS detainees from Syria to Iraq.
The new ceasefire took effect at 11pm local time, the ministry said.
The SDF said the agreement has been reached through international mediation, “while dialogue with Damascus continues”.
An SDF official told The National that the ceasefire was extended at the behest of the US, to try to meet SDF demands for a mechanism under which government police forces − not the military − would enter the three main cities of Hasakah, Qamishli and Amouda, which have large Kurdish populations.
The official said the SDF would hand over these areas only if the government guarantees they would remain free of the combat troops and heavy weapons that entered other parts or the north-east.
Another issue is the fate of thousands of Syrian Kurd fighters, now part of the last defensive lines in the north-east, he said.
While non-Syrian Kurdish fighters in the SDF could cross eventually to their homes in northern Iraq, SDF leader Mazloum Abdi will not hand over the rest of the north-east without an agreement on the safety of the Syrian fighters and for them to remain in the country, said the official.
“He feels that has been cheated by the Americans and by Al Shara. But he will not allow his forces to become victims of a bloodbath,” the official said.
Meanwhile, the Syrian Defence Ministry announced the opening of two humanitarian corridors in co-ordination with authorities in Aleppo and Hasakah, state news agency Sana reported.
“These corridors will be designated for the entry of aid and the evacuation of humanitarian cases,” the army said in a statement published on Sana.
One corridor connects the cities of Raqqa and Hasakah, and the second runs north through Aleppo province, from the village of Nour Ali near the Ain Al Arab junction on the M4 highway to the Kurdish-held city of Kobani, also known as Ain Al Arab, according to maps released by the ministry.
Despite the ceasefire announcement, the SDF said on Sunday that factions tied with the Syrian army are attacking villages in west and east of Kobani.
Amid the instability and the SDF's withdrawal from ISIS prisons and camps that had been under their control, the US has sought to transfer detainees to neighbouring Iraq.
The sudden move to transfer ISIS members, thousands of whom are Iraqi citizens, reflects dangers associated with the background of some Syrian government troops, who previously belonged to extremist groups.
The US has been engaging in shuttle diplomacy to establish a lasting ceasefire and enable the integration of the SDF – which for years was Washington's main partner in Syria – into the state led by its new favoured ally, Mr Al Shara.
As the Saturday deadline approached, SDF forces had reinforced their defensive positions in the cities of Qamishli, Hasakah and Kobani for a possible fight, Kurdish security sources told Reuters.
The possible showdown is the culmination of rising tension over the past year.
Mr Al Shara, whose forces toppled the regime of former president Bashar Al Assad in December 2024, has pledged to bring all of Syria under state control – including SDF-held areas in the north-east.
But Kurdish authorities, who have run autonomous civilian and military institutions there for the past decade, have resisted joining up with his Islamist-led government.
After a year-end deadline for the merger passed with little progress, Syrian troops launched the offensive this month.
They swiftly captured two key Arab-majority provinces from the SDF, bringing key oilfields, hydroelectric dams and some centres holding ISIS fighters and affiliated civilians under government control.
With agencies
