Syria ceasefire with Kurdish forces expires amid uncertainty
Orhan Qereman and Halil Ashawi
QAMISHLI, Syria, Jan 24 (Reuters) – A four-day ceasefire between the Syrian government and Kurdish forces ended on Saturday night, with the outcome of the ceasefire unclear and both sides accusing it of violations.
The ceasefire ended at 8 pm (1700 GMT) when Syrian troops and Kurdish forces massed on opposite sides of the front lines around the last cluster of Kurdish-held cities.
Syrian Information Minister Hamza al-Mustafa said that the deadline given to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces has expired. He added to X: “The Syrian government confirms it is now considering its next options.”
No statement was made from the SDF regarding the outcome of the ceasefire.
Government troops have captured much of the northern and eastern regions from the SDF in the past two weeks; Events developed rapidly, consolidating President Ahmed al-Shara’s rule.
Sharaa’s forces were closing in on the SDF’s last strongholds earlier this week when he suddenly declared a ceasefire, giving them until Saturday night to lay down their weapons and make a plan to integrate with the Syrian army or continue fighting.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry on Saturday denied reports that an agreement to extend the ceasefire had been reached, calling them baseless, according to the state news agency.
The ministry also said there had been “no positive response” to the government’s offer, accusing the SDF of repeatedly violating the ceasefire.
The SDF said the government was “systematically” moving towards escalation.
“Military build-ups and logistical movements have been observed, clearly indicating the intention to escalate tensions and push the region towards a new conflict,” the SDF said in a statement. he said.
SOURCES SAY THAT THE USA AND FRANCE ARE PAYING ATTENTION TO SHARIA ABOUT THE KURDS
The United States is engaging in shuttle diplomacy to broker a lasting ceasefire and facilitate the integration of the SDF, Washington’s main partner in Syria for years, into the state led by its new favorite ally, Sharaa.
Senior US and French officials have urged Sharaa not to send its troops into Kurdish-held areas out of fear that renewed fighting could lead to mass abuses against Kurdish civilians, diplomatic sources told Reuters.
Government forces killed nearly 1,500 members of the Alawite minority and hundreds of Druze last year in sectarian violence, including execution-style killings.
Amid instability in the northeast, the U.S. military is transferring hundreds of detained fighters from ISIS across the border into Iraq from Syrian prisons formerly run by the SDF.
THE CLIMAX OF A YEAR OF RISING TENSIONS
As the deadline approached on Saturday, SDF forces also strengthened their defensive positions in the cities of Qamishli, Hasakeh and Kobane against a possible conflict, Kurdish security sources told Reuters.
The potential showdown is the culmination of tensions that have been rising over the past year.
Sharaa, whose forces overthrew long-ruling Bashar al-Assad in late 2024, has vowed to bring all of Syria, including SDF-held areas in the northeast, under state control.
But Kurdish authorities, who have run autonomous civilian and military institutions in the region for the past decade, have resisted joining Sharaa’s Islamist-led government.
After a period with little progress toward unification until the end of the year, Syrian troops launched the offensive this month.
They quickly captured two key Arab-majority provinces from the SDF and brought key oil fields, hydroelectric dams, and some facilities housing Islamic State fighters and their civilians under government control.
(Reporting by Orhan Qereman in Qamishli, Khalil Ashawi and Mahmoud Hasano in Deir ez-Zor; Additional reporting by Laila Bassam in Beirut, Ece Toksabay in Ankara and Menna Alaa El-Din in Cairo; Writing by Maya Gebeily, Jonathan Spicer and Hatem Maher; Editing by William Mallard, Sharon Singleton, Daren Butler)
