Syrian Kurds hand over new prison to government troops
The Syrian government has taken over a northern prison following a negotiated exit of Kurdish fighters from the facility, a senior official said. This is a positive sign that the ceasefire between the two powers can continue.
Government troops have captured large parts of northern and eastern regions from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the past two weeks; Events developed rapidly, consolidating President Ahmed al-Shara’s rule.
Sharaa’s forces were gathering around the last cluster of Kurdish-held cities in the northeast earlier this week when Sharaa abruptly declared a ceasefire, giving the SDF until Saturday night to come up with a plan to integrate with the Syrian army.
The deadline aims to implement a comprehensive agreement agreed on January 18 that would hand over the semi-autonomous institutions run by Kurdish forces in the northeast over the past decade to the central state, something the SDF resisted last year.
The deal also calls for the government to take control of a number of SDF-run prisons and detention camps that house fighters and civilians affiliated with the Islamic State, the ultraconservative Sunni Islamist militant group the SDF has fought for years with U.S. support.
This week, following a chaotic SDF withdrawal, a prison and a detention camp fell into government hands and some ISIS-linked figures escaped, albeit briefly.
Seeking to avoid a security breach, the government negotiated an overnight withdrawal of Kurdish fighters from Al Aktan prison in the northern Raqqa province.
A senior Syrian government official told Reuters on Friday that al-Aqtan talks running through Saturday provide hope that they will lead to a political solution rather than renewed fighting.
However, he said the government has not yet received a response from the SDF regarding its integration plan or its candidate for deputy defense minister, a post for which Sharaa has asked the SDF to nominate someone.
SDF sources said on Friday that the deadline for the response could be extended, but the Syrian official said there were no discussions about extending it at this time.
Despite hopes of reaching a negotiated solution, both sides stepped up military preparations.
Syrian military officials say they are “preparing their forces for battle” and Reuters reporters saw army vehicles and fighter buses arriving near the Kurdish-held city of Hasakah, where Kurdish forces have reinforced their positions.
Senior officials of the United States and France, the primary mediators coordinating the ceasefire talks, called on Sharaa not to send its troops to Kurdish-held areas, diplomatic sources told Reuters.
“We call on the Syrian authorities to assume all their responsibility for the protection of all civilians, including Kurdish civilians,” French foreign ministry spokesman Pascal Confavreux said. he said.
The United States, which has long supported the SDF but now sees Sharaa as its primary partner in Syria, is helping transfer detained ISIS fighters from Syria to Iraq.
The SDF on Tuesday withdrew from al-Hol, which, along with another camp, Roj, was housing 28,000 civilians, women and children who fled ISIS strongholds due to the collapse of the group’s self-declared caliphate.
These include Syrians, Iraqis and 8,500 citizens of other countries.
Deputy UN spokesman Farhan Haq said the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR was able to access the Al-Hol camp along with Syrian government officials on Friday and made contact with some camp residents.
“Basic supplies have also resumed. After a three-day interruption caused by the unstable security situation inside the camp, trucks carrying bread entered the camp today, with the facilitation of UNHCR. Additionally, water truck services organized by UNICEF were also delivered yesterday, helping to partially restore the camp population’s access to basic services.” he said.
In an effort to improve relations with Kurds in Syria, Sharaa issued a decree on January 16 designating Kurdish as the national language alongside Arabic.
