As the clock crept down to an evening deadline that would decide whether they would continue fighting or surrender their weapons, Syrian and Kurdish fighters were gathered on opposing sides of battle lines in northern Syria on Saturday.
Late on Friday, some Syrian officials and neighboring Turkey announced that the deadline would be extended.
In a swift turn of events that has solidified President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s authority, government troops have taken large portions of northern and eastern territory from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the past two weeks.
Earlier this week, Sharaa unexpectedly declared a ceasefire, giving the SDF till Saturday night to devise a strategy to merge with Syria’s army, as his forces were getting close to a final group of Kurdish-held cities in the northeast.
ULMINATION OF A YEAR OF RISING TENSIONS
Kurdish security sources told Reuters that as the deadline drew near, SDF forces strengthened their defensive positions in the cities of Qamishli, Hasakeh, and Kobane in anticipation of a potential conflict.
According to SDF sources and Syrian officials, the deadline on Saturday will probably be extended for a few days, possibly even a week.Hakan Fidan, the foreign minister of Turkey, which is the biggest foreign supporter of Sharaa’s government and views the SDF as a branch of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, stated that extending the ceasefire for a little while longer might be on the agenda.
Rising tensions over the past year have culminated in the potential confrontation in northern Syria.
Sharaa, whose forces overthrew longstanding dictator Bashar al-Assad in late 2024, has pledged to establish state control over all of Syria, including northeastern regions held by the SDF.
However, the Kurdish authorities who have been in charge of independent military and civilian institutions there for the past ten years have refused to ally with the Islamist-led administration of Sharaa.
Syrian military began an offensive this month after the merger’s year-end deadline passed with minimal progress.
US, FRANCE CAUTION SHARAA ON KURDS, SOURCES SAY
They quickly overthrew the SDF in two important Arab-majority regions, seizing important oil fields, hydroelectric dams, and some facilities that put Islamic State fighters and associated civilians under government authority.
In order to create a long-lasting ceasefire and help the SDF, which was originally Washington’s principal friend in Syria, integrate into the state headed by its new ally, Sharaa, the United States has been using shuttle diplomacy.
Sharaa has been advised not to send his troops into the remaining Kurdish-held territories by senior officials from the United States and France, which has also participated in negotiations.
They worry that resuming hostilities would result in widespread mistreatment of Kurdish civilians. Last year, hundreds of Druze people and about 1,500 members of the Alawite minority were massacred by government-affiliated troops in sectarian violence, including execution-style killings.
The U.S. military has started moving hundreds of Islamic State fighters from Syrian prisons across the border into Iraq amid the unrest in the northeast.
According to a statement from the Iraqi foreign ministry, Fuad Hussein, the country’s foreign minister, warned Kaja Kallas, the head of EU foreign policy, over the phone on Saturday that Baghdad shouldn’t be solely responsible for the “security and financial burdens” of transferring IS inmates.
Speaking on broadcaster NTV late on Friday, Fidan of Turkey mentioned these movements as perhaps requiring an extension of the deadline for Saturday.
Orhan Qereman in Qamishli, Khalil Ashawi and Mahmoud Hasano in Deir al-Zor; additional reporting by Menna Alaa El-Din in Cairo and Ece Toksabay in Ankara; writing by Maya Gebeily; editing by Jonathan Spicer and William Mallard
