Clashes erupted once more on Saturday in northern Syria between Syrian troops and Kurdish forces, despite an agreed withdrawal of the latter, Reuters reported.
Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces were initially deployed in several towns west of the Euphrates River, as soldiers of the regime encircled them in recent days.
SDF head Mazloum Abdi said overnight Friday that his fighters would redeploy east to the river the following morning, but fighting broke after the Syrian troops pressed forward in some towns and oil fields, according to Reuters.
The Kurds said that the Syrian forces advanced into villages that were not included in the agreement.
Hussein al-Khalaf, a resident of Deir Hafer, situated east of Aleppo, told Reuters: “It happened with the least amount of losses. There’s been enough blood in this country, Syria. We have sacrificed and lost enough—people are tired of it.”
When Syria’s military stated it would next move into the town of Tabqa, abutting the Euphrates further east of Deir Hafer but on the western bank of the river, the SDF announced it would fight to maintain its control over the village and its oil fields.
Four Syrian troops and another unknown number of Kurdish fighters were killed, according to Reuters.
U.S. Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack touched down in Erbil in northern Iraq on Saturday to meet with Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani, according to two Kurdish sources, the report added.
Meanwhile, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Friday formally recognized Kurdish as a national language, permitting its teaching in public schools where a significant Kurdish population is present, according to AFP.
The decree issued by Damascus stated that Kurds were “an essential and integral part” of Syria, the report continued.
Damascus also made the Kurdish new year, Nowruz, which falls on March 21, an official holiday and granted Syrian nationality to Kurds. The nationality of 20% of Kurds in the Arab-majority country was revoked under a controversial 1962 census.
Announcing the measure on national television, Sharaa vowed to guarantee rights for Syrian Kurds.
The Kurds in north and northeastern Syria have largely established autonomous governance since 2012, during the Syrian civil war.
Talks with Damascus aimed at integrating Kurdish authorities into Syria’s new administration ensued after the fall of President Bashar Assad’s regime in December 2024. But a March agreement has stalled, with the Kurdish minority expressing deep distrust of the central government.
