The Syrian central government of interim President Ahmed al-Shar'ar has reached a ceasefire agreement with Kurdish militias after days of fighting. The agreement was also reported by Kurdish media.
The US special envoy for Syria, Tom Barak, welcomed the ceasefire. He spoke of "a decisive turning point in which former adversaries are putting cooperation ahead of division."
The ceasefire agreement calls for fighters from the Kurdish militia of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to withdraw from positions near eastern Aleppo to an area east of the Euphrates River, the Syrian president's office said.
In addition, the government will take full military and administrative control over the previously Kurdish-controlled provinces of Deir el-Zour and Raqqa. Control of all border crossings, as well as gas and oil fields in the region, should also be handed over to the Syrian government.
SDF units should be included in the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Interior.
The army continued its advance into Kurdish areas
The conflict between Damascus and the SDF has been escalating since then. Government forces have taken control of strategic areas in northern and eastern Syria in recent days, including two important oil fields and a dam, state media and activists say. Armed clashes have broken out as the SDF withdraws from several areas.
The Syrian army said it had taken control of the northern city of Tabqa, as well as a key dam on the Euphrates River – the country's largest dam, crucial for water and electricity supplies.
Conflict over autonomy and raw materials
The backdrop to the latest fighting in Syria is primarily a dispute over how much autonomy the Kurds can retain in the self-governing northeast and to what extent the authorities in Damascus can enforce central authority in that part of the country. It is also about access to resources and strategically important areas, as well as the question of the extent to which SDF fighters will be integrated into the state army.
The transitional government and the SDF agreed to cooperate back in March 2025. However, even after that, armed clashes broke out several times due to disagreements over the specific terms of implementation of the agreement.
Al-Shara was supposed to be in Berlin today.
Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has postponed a planned visit to Germany at the last minute, a government spokesman confirmed on Sunday evening. The visit was scheduled for Monday and Tuesday. The reason given was the current security situation and fighting inside Syria.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz extended an invitation to visit Germany back in November. During his stay in Germany, Al-Shara was scheduled to meet with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Chancellor Merz, as well as several federal ministers and business representatives. The main topics of discussion were to be the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland and the reconstruction of that Arab country.
Criticism of the planned visit came, among other things, from the Kurdish and Alawite communities in Germany, who accuse the Syrian government of violently suppressing ethnic and religious minorities.
However, the official program of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos for Thursday (January 22.01) afternoon still includes a session titled "A Conversation with Ahmad al-Sharaa, President of Syria."
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