Syria’s government accused the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces of attacks that it said killed 11 soldiers, raising doubts over a four-day ceasefire announced after days of fighting in the northeast.
Damascus said the incidents occurred on Wednesday (22 January), a day after the ceasefire was announced, and warned they risked derailing talks aimed at integrating the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces into the central state.
The government said seven soldiers were killed in a drone strike while securing a captured military base that contained explosives, and called it a dangerous escalation. The SDF denied carrying out any strike and said the blast happened while Syrian troops were moving explosives. It also accused government forces of violating the ceasefire with attacks in several locations.
Later on Wednesday, Damascus said a total of 11 soldiers had been killed and 25 wounded in SDF attacks on army positions since the ceasefire announcement. The SDF did not comment on that broader accusation.
After days of rapid government advances, Syria said on Tuesday (21 January) it had reached an agreement with the SDF on a four-day ceasefire to allow negotiations on integration into the state, warning that failure to agree would lead to an assault on the last two main cities held by the group.
The confrontation has put into question years of Kurdish de facto autonomy in northeast Syria and could affect relations with the United States and Türkiye, as well as the fate of thousands of detained Islamist militants.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan, a key ally of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, said the SDF, which Ankara considers a terrorist group, must lay down its arms and disband to avoid further bloodshed.
The United States, which previously backed the SDF in the fight against IS, urged the group on Tuesday to accept Damascus’s offer. Washington said the reasons for its partnership with the SDF had expired, but it remained concerned about the fate of IS detainees held in facilities guarded by the group. The U.S. military said on Wednesday it had launched a mission to transfer IS prisoners from Syria to Iraq.
The SDF said on Tuesday it had accepted the ceasefire and would not carry out military action unless attacked. Its leader, Mazloum Abdi, has said the protection of Kurdish-majority areas is a “red line”.
SDF commander Mazloum Abdi also held talks on Thursday with Nechirvan Barzani, president of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region.
The meeting was convened at the request of the Iraqi Kurdish leadership to review the SDF’s agreement with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, according to Iraqi Kurdish politician Wafa Mohammed of Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
“There is strong U.S. and international pressure on the Syrian Democratic Forces to end the disputes and implement the agreement, but that does not necessarily mean the U.S. pressure will lead to a positive outcome,” Mohammed told the press.
He added that the SDF remains wary of commitments made by Sharaa and does not fully trust the assurances offered.
A second Iraqi Kurdish source familiar with the discussions said the talks also addressed a proposal for both sides to pull their forces back by roughly 10 kilometres (six miles) from the outskirts of Hasakah, an ethnically mixed city that remains under SDF control.
Kurdish communities in Iraqi Kurdistan held demonstrations on Tuesday, in response to the Syrian government’s advance into northeast Syria, signalling local opposition to Damascus taking control of formerly SDF-administered areas.
Meanwhile, international observers are closely monitoring the security and humanitarian situation at al-Hol and other detention facilities, as thousands of former IS fighters and their families remain in camps.
The U.S. Special Envoy for Syria and Ambassador to Ankara, Tom Barrack said he met on Thursday with SDF commander Mazloum Abdi and senior Syrian Kurdish politician Ilham Ahmed, reaffirming Washington’s support for the integration process outlined in a January 18 agreement.
In a post on X, Barrack said all sides had agreed that maintaining the existing ceasefire was the critical first step, as confidence-building measures are identified and implemented to promote trust and long-term stability.
Northeast Syria, wedged between the Turkish and Iraqi borders, includes areas with both Arab and Kurdish majorities and contains most of the country’s energy reserves. Syrian troops remained positioned outside the Kurdish-held cities of Hasakah and Qamishli on Wednesday, after bringing in reinforcements including tanks and other military vehicles the previous night.
The strategic balance in Syria has shifted over the past 13 months since forces led by al-Sharaa ousted former president Bashar al-Assad. Türkiye, which sees the SDF as linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party, is engaged in a peace process with the PKK and regards the end of SDF control in Syria as a key objective.
Erdoğan welcomed the ceasefire in remarks to parliament, saying he hoped the group’s full integration into the Syrian state would mark a new era. He and Donald Trump discussed Syria in a phone call overnight on Tuesday (20 January), including the issue of prisoners and the fight against IS.
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