Clashes Reported After Syria And Kurdish-Led Forces Agree Ceasefire.

Syria’s army and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia alliance have reported fresh clashes in the country’s north-east, a day after a ceasefire deal brought much of the autonomous region under government control.

The 14-point agreement signed on Sunday, which will see the SDF withdraw from Raqqa and Deir al-Zour provinces and then be integrated into state institutions, was supposed to end almost two weeks of fighting.

President Ahmed al-Sharaa said he hoped it would allow Syria to “end its state of division and move to a state of unity and progress”.

SDF commander Mazlum Abdi said the fighting had been “imposed on us” and that he had accepted the deal “to stop the bloodshed”.

Abdi added that he would explain the terms after returning from Damascus, where he was expected to fly on Monday for talks on implementation.

It appears to be a major blow for the SDF, which had been reluctant to give up the autonomy it won for Syria’s Kurdish minority when helping US-led forces defeat the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) during the country’s 13-year civil war.

Sharaa has vowed to reunify Syria since he led the rebel offensive that overthrew Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, but the country remains deeply divided and has been rocked by several waves of deadly sectarian violence.

BBC