Syrian government and SDF agree ceasefire after heavy fighting in northeast
The Syrian government and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Sunday agreed to an immediate ceasefire across all fronts, Syrian state media reported, following days of clashes as the army reclaimed large swathes of the country’s northeast.
Speaking in Damascus, President Ahmed al-Sharaa said remaining disputes with the SDF would be resolved through dialogue.
He stressed that Syria remains a single, unified state and said special security arrangements would be put in place in areas granted particular status.
Sharaa said he was due to meet the head of the SDF, Mazloum Abdi, but bad weather delayed the talks, which have now been pushed back to Monday.
The president added that state institutions are preparing to deploy to three eastern and northeastern provinces as part of a new arrangement.
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“We advise our Arab tribes to remain calm and allow for the implementation of the agreement’s terms,” Sharaa said.
Earlier on Sunday, Sharaa met the US special envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack, in Damascus, according to a statement by the Syrian presidency.
The statement said the president reaffirmed Syria’s unity and sovereignty over all its territory and underlined the importance of dialogue and inclusive participation in rebuilding the country.
The meeting also covered continued coordination on counterterrorism and explored ways to enhance economic cooperation between Syria and the US, alongside discussions on wider regional developments.
Syrian forces reclaim oil fields
Kurdish-led forces pulled out from Syria’s largest oil field early on Sunday as government troops extended their control across large parts of the country’s north and east.
Government troops drove Kurdish forces from two Aleppo neighbourhoods last week, and on Saturday announced they had captured an area east of the city, as well as Tabqa, in Raqqa province, on the southwestern bank of the Euphrates.
At dawn on Sunday, the Kurdish-led SDF forces withdrew "from all areas under its control in the eastern Deir Ezzor countryside, including the al-Omar and Tanak oil fields", the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
Al-Omar is the country's largest oil field, and was home to the biggest US base in Syria.
The Kurds' reported withdrawal there follows the government's announcement that it had retaken two other oil fields, Safyan and Al-Tharwa, in Raqqa province.
The government’s advance has so far taken in predominantly Arab areas that fell under Kurdish control during the fight against the Islamic State group.
Clashes erupted after a deal for Kurdish forces to withdraw from areas near Aleppo to the east of the Euphrates collapsed, with both sides reporting casualties.
Each side blamed the other for breaching the agreement.
On Sunday, the Kurdish administration accused government forces of attacking its fighters on multiple fronts, while the army said the SDF had failed to honour a commitment to “fully withdraw” east of the river.
Kurdish authorities imposed a curfew in the Raqqa province after the army declared a stretch of land southwest of the Euphrates a “closed military zone”.
The government advances came as President Ahmed al-Sharaa issued a decree granting the Kurds official recognition in an apparent a goodwill gesture, as his government seeks to assert authority across Syria.
The Kurds' de facto autonomous administration, which controls large parts of the northeast, has said the announcement fell short, and the implementation of a deal to integrate Kurdish forces into the state has been stalled for months.
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