In the wake of clashes with Kurdish-led forces over strategic posts and oilfields along the Euphrates River, the United States has urged Syrian troops to halt their advance through Kurdish-held territory in Syria’s north.
Following recent fighting in Aleppo and areas east of the city over stalled plans to merge the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) into the Syrian state, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) agreed to retreat east of the river.
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Syrian troops should “cease any offensive actions in areas” between the city of Aleppo and the town of Tabqa, which is located 160 kilometers (100 miles) further east in the Raqqa governorate, according to Brad Cooper, the head of the US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM).
The Syrian Army Operations Command announced on Saturday that the military had entered Tabqa, a strategic town close to a dam and military air base, in Arabic. The SDF refuted the claim, claiming that there were still its troops “in their positions.”
‘Betrayal’
The SDF had previously stated that it would withdraw from the important Aleppo governorates’ Deir Hafer and Maksana, as well as some of the nearby Arab-majority communities.
On Saturday, the Syrian army accused the SDF of violating a withdrawal agreement by shooting an army patrol close to Maksana and killing two soldiers.
Meanwhile, the SDF claimed Damascus had violated the agreement by entering the towns “before our fighters had fully withdrawn.”
Later, Syrian troops reportedly advanced further, breaking into the Raqqa countryside, breaking into towns and villages controlled by Kurds, including Hneida, Rajm al-Ghazal, Mansoura, and Zur Shamar, and imposing a curfew in the Maadan area as they pushed their way closer to Tabqa.
Damascus was accused of betrayal by the SDF. During the implementation of the withdrawal provisions, our forces and Damascus factions continued to engage in violent clashes, according to a statement from the organization. Additionally, parts of Raqqa were “subjected to artillery shelling and rocket fire.”
However, the SDF claimed in a statement on Saturday that Tabqa was “outside the scope of the agreement” and that it would fight to keep the town and an oilfield close by.
Zein Basravi, a journalist from Aleppo, reported that the Raqqa governorate was still under ongoing shelling.
It is unsurprising, he said, “Seeing the amount of weapons, the amount of long-range artillery, and the truckloads of ammunition going in that direction is unbelievable.”
This is a very active, ongoing theater of operations, he continued, noting that there are ongoing battles involving oilfields that were being fought by the SDF.
Shortly after soldiers seize the Deir Hafer and Maskana oil fields from the SDF, the Syrian Petroleum Company announced on Saturday that it had taken control of the al-Rasafa and Safyan oilfields from the Syrian Army.
Unresolved problem
In order to balance years of support for the SDF, with whom it had been allied in the fight against ISIL (ISIS), and its support for Ahmed al-Sharaa, the new Syrian president, whose forces had ousted Bashar al-Assad in late 2024, the US has had to reevaluate its Syria policy.
On Saturday, US envoy Tom Barrack met with Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani and Abdi in Erbil, a Kurdish region in northern Iraq.
Authorities in the Kurdish region welcomed a decree released on Friday that formally recognizes the Kurdish language and grants Kurdish Syrians citizenship, but it required that it be passed and enshrined in the constitution.
Bernard Smith of Al Jazeera reported from Baghdad that the “unresolved issue of how to integrate these tens of thousands of heavily armed, well-trained SDF fighters into the Syrian Army” lay beneath the “conciliatory words”
