Fighting reignited in northeast Syria just hours after the Damascus government and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) signed what was hailed as a landmark ceasefire and unification deal.
The Syrian army confirmed that three of its soldiers were killed and others wounded in two separate attacks targeting its forces. In an official statement, the military blamed “terrorist groups affiliated with the PKK and remnants of the previous regime” for attempting to sabotage the agreement through violence.
The SDF, meanwhile, reported “heavy clashes” near Al-Qattan prison in Raqqa, which houses Islamic State detainees, and accused the Syrian army of continuing its assaults in Ain Issa, Al-Shaddadi, and Raqqa—areas that had been included in the ceasefire framework.
These confrontations erupted shortly after the Syrian military deployed forces into formerly Kurdish-held areas of Deir Ezzor province. The army’s operations command stated it was extending control across the Jazira region “to secure it” under the new agreement. It claimed to have taken control of the Tishreen Dam, parts of northern Raqqa, and western Hasakah, while ordering civilians to remain indoors unless absolutely necessary.
The 14-point accord, signed late Sunday by interim Syrian President Ahmad Al-Shara and SDF commander Mazloum Abdi, declared an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire, and outlined the integration of SDF’s military and civil structures into the Syrian state. The deal followed several days of clashes that saw Syrian government forces retake strategic oil fields and territory in the north.
Ceasefire on paper, escalation in reality
According to the agreement, the SDF is required to withdraw east of the Euphrates River as a preliminary step, while the government assumes full civil and military control over Deir Ezzor and Raqqa, including oil fields and border crossings. A new Hasakah governor is to be appointed by presidential decree, and local civil institutions are to be absorbed into central administration.
SDF members are to be vetted and integrated “individually” into the Ministries of Defense and Interior, with promises of salaries, ranks, and protections ensuring “the particularity of Kurdish regions.” Ain Al-Arab (Kobane) is to be demilitarized, with a civilian security force composed of local residents assuming control. Responsibility for Islamic State prisoners is to be transferred fully to the Syrian government.
One provision, clearly intended to placate Turkey, demands the expulsion of all non-Syrian members of the PKK from Syrian territory—a long-standing demand by Ankara, framed in the agreement as a step toward “sovereignty and regional stability.”
In a statement, Abdi confirmed the SDF’s withdrawal from Raqqa and Deir Ezzor, stating it was a necessary concession to prevent civil war and preserve the political gains of the Kurdish-led autonomous administration. He is scheduled to meet with Al-Sharaa in Damascus to coordinate next steps.
This is the second such attempt at integration; a March 2025 deal aiming to merge the SDF into the Syrian state collapsed after negotiations stalled and government forces launched a fresh offensive.
International reactions were mixed. US special envoy Thomas Barrack called the deal a “critical turning point,” while acknowledging that “substantial work” remained to implement the merger. Turkey’s foreign ministry cautiously welcomed the agreement, repeating its narrative that Syria’s future lies in “unity and integration,” not “terrorism and separatism.”
Earlier this month, fierce clashes between Syrian government forces and the SDF in Aleppo’s Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh districts killed 62 people, including 25 Syrian soldiers, and wounded 115—most of them women and children, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Those battles culminated in the Syrian army expelling Kurdish fighters from large areas of the north, dismantling a decade-long experiment in Kurdish self-governance and reasserting central control over oil-rich and strategically significant territory.
