DAMASCUS: Syria on Tuesday announced a ceasefire with Kurdish forces it has seized swathes of territory from in the northeast and gave them four days to agree on integrating into the central state, which their main ally, the United States, urged them to accept.

The lightning government advances in recent days and the apparent withdrawal of US support for the continued holding of territory by the Syrian Democratic Forces represent the biggest change of control in the country since rebels ousted Bashar al-Assad 13 months ago.

US envoy Tom Barrack in a social media post described the offer of integration into the central Syrian state with citizenship rights, cultural protections and political participation as the “greatest opportunity” the Kurds have.

He added that the original purpose of the SDF, which Washington had supported as its main local ally battling the militant Isla­mic State group, had largely expired, and that the US had no long-term interest in retaining its pres­­ence in Syria.

Ceasefire

The SDF said it accepted a ceasefire agreement with the Damascus government and that it would not engage in any military action unless attacked. A Syrian government statement said it had reached an understanding with the SDF for it to devise an integration plan for Hasakah province or risk state forces entering two SDF-controlled cities.

SDF fighters ‘compelled to withdraw’ from IS-linked Al-Hol camp

The government announced a four-day ceasefire starting on Tuesday evening and said it had asked the SDF to submit the name of a candidate to take the role of assistant to the defence minister in Damascus as part of the integration.

Northeast Syria, wedged between Turkiye and Iraq, is home to both Kurds and Arabs and was largely overrun by IS fighters a decade ago before the SDF drove them back with air support from a US-led coalition.

However, advances by the SDF’s main component, the Kurdish YPG force, were concerning to US ally Turkiye, which regarded it as an offshoot of the PKK group that had waged a years-long insurgency inside Turkiye.

Since Assad was overthrown in December 2024, Syria has been led by former rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, who at one stage controlled the Al Qaeda offshoot in the country, and who has emerged as a close ally of Turkiye.

Northeast Syria remains sensitive to Ankara, and is of wider international concern because of the presence of SDF-guarded facilities holding thousands of detained IS fighters and civilians associated with them.

IS detainees

About 200 low-level IS fighters escaped Shaddadi prison in northeast Syria on Monday when the SDF departed, but Syrian government forces recaptured many of them, a US official said on Tuesday.

The Syrian Interior Ministry said that about 120 IS detainees escaped, 81 of whom had been recaptured.

The SDF said it had also withdrawn from al-Hol camp housing thousands of civilians linked to the jihadist group near the Iraqi border. A senior Syrian government defence official said Damascus had notified the US of the SDF intention to withdraw from the vicinity of al-Hol camp and that government forces were ready to deploy there.

The SDF has previously said it was guarding some 10,000 IS fighters. Syrian military sources said government troops had advanced on Tuesday in eastern areas of Hasakah province and south of the town of Kobani on the border with Turkiye.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2026