Syrian security forces deployed on Tuesday in the city of Shaddadi, south of Hasakah province, after the withdrawal of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), as authorities announced the arrest of 81 ISIS members who had escaped from Shaddadi prison.
The developments came amid renewed fighting in northeast Syria between the Syrian army and fighters affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), two days after Damascus and the SDF signed an agreement to halt hostilities and integrate SDF-run civilian and military authorities into state institutions.
The Syrian army’s Operations Command blamed the clashes on what it described as “terrorist groups from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and remnants of the fallen regime,” accusing them of attempting to derail the agreement by attacking Syrian army units.
In a significant escalation, the Syrian army accused the SDF on Tuesday of withdrawing from Al-Hol camp, located in Hasakah province and home to thousands of families of ISIS fighters, a claim denied by Kurdish officials.
The army said the SDF had abandoned security duties at Al-Hol, adding that it would work with internal security forces to enter the area and secure it.
The accusations followed five hours of negotiations in which de facto Syrian leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa presented an offer to SDF commander Mazloum Abdi that included the deployment of security forces into Hasakah city. Abdi, however, insisted on keeping full administrative control under SDF authority, according to accounts of the talks.
During the negotiations, Al-Sharaa offered Abdi the position of deputy defense minister and proposed the nomination of a governor for Hasakah, in exchange for the neutralization of the PKK.
As the talks unraveled, clashes broke out between the Syrian army and an SDF-affiliated group at Al-Qattan prison in Raqqa, while the SDF, in turn, called on its supporters in Syria, neighboring countries and Europe to join what it described as “the resistance.”
Following the collapse of talks between Damascus and the SDF, the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) — the political wing of the SDF — said it had not rejected dialogue with Syrian authorities but stressed that it opposes violations and the imposition of orders. The council reiterated its demand for decentralization as a solution to the current crisis.
Meanwhile, the Syrian army continued sweeping operations in areas it seized in Raqqa province to the north and Deir Ezzor to the east, advancing toward Hasakah city, in the far northeast of the country and widely regarded as a stronghold of Syria’s Kurdish minority.
Confrontations between the Syrian army and the SDF first erupted more than a week ago in Aleppo, before spreading to the eastern Aleppo countryside. The clashes later intensified, accompanied by mutual accusations and the assignment of blame.
Although Al-Sharaa and Abdi agreed last Sunday to a ceasefire and signed an accord to that effect under the sponsorship of US envoy Tom Barrack, the agreement quickly faltered. A meeting scheduled for Monday in Damascus to discuss implementation ended without results.
The Al-Sharaa–Abdi deal was not the first of its kind. On March 10, the two sides signed an agreement to integrate the SDF into the Syrian state. Negotiations to merge military and civilian structures continued for months and were due to conclude by the end of 2025, before stalling and giving way to clashes that rapidly escalated into a government offensive.
