The withdrawal of Kurdish troops is part of the agreement reached on Sunday between the Syrian government and the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The agreement was intended to end the fighting between these groups that resumed in January. However, according to media reports, the attacks are still ongoing.
The Kurdish-led alliance until recently controlled the entire north-eastern Syria and established an autonomous administration there, independent of the authorities in Damascus.
The SDF was once a major U.S. ally and one of the most important forces in the international coalition that drove out the extremist fighters of the Islamic State. Members of the terrorist organization captured a large area of Syria in the middle of the previous decade, building a fundamentalist quasi-state there.
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What is in the agreement between the Syrian government and the SDF?
Who took power in Syria in December 2024?
What attacks were carried out on Hasaka province?
Thousands of IS fighters ended up in prisons controlled by Kurdish forces. The SDF reported that a prison in al-Shaddad was attacked on Monday by government troops, a the US-led coalition did not respond to requests for help.
The government army denied these reports. It stressed that it respected the agreement, gave the Kurds time to withdraw from the city, and then took control of it. It added that a curfew was introduced in al-Shaddad to catch fugitives.
New power in Syria. Former Islamic terrorist president
Power over Syria was taken over in December 2024 by Ahmed al-Shara, who comes from jihadist groups. The new president declares that he has abandoned Islamist ideology and wants to unite Syria, divided by a bloody civil war that has lasted over a decade.
Gray managed to establish a relationship with US President Donald Trump. The Syrian president's office said the leaders spoke by phone on Monday. The conversation emphasized the need to continue the fight against Islamic State and to respect the rights of the Kurds, Szary's office added.
Agreement to end the fighting
The agreement signed on Sunday includes, among others: withdrawal of Kurdish forces from two of the three provinces of Syria they control. Ultimately, Kurdish militias are also to be incorporated into the regular Syrian armed forces.
There are oil and gas deposits in the areas from which the Kurds are withdrawing.
The SDF also reported on Monday that Turkish troops were attacking Hasaka province with drones, the last region fully controlled by Kurdish forces.
Ankara has long considered Syrian Kurdish units as an extension of the Kurdish groups it is fighting in Turkey, including the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PPK), which is recognized as a terrorist organization. During the civil war, Turkish troops repeatedly intervened in northern Syria, fighting the Kurds there.
Türkiye welcomed Sunday's agreement, which also declared the expulsion of all non-Syrian Kurdish fighters from Syria.
