Syrian forces have entered the northeastern city of Qamishli and taken control of key security sites, Syria’s state news agency is reporting, as part of a ceasefire deal with Kurdish-led forces.
Citing the Syrian Interior Ministry, the SANA news agency reported on Tuesday that units began entering the city in Syria’s Hasakah province “to implement the terms of the agreement and commence their security duties”.
The move comes after the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) agreed to a deal on Friday with Damascus to integrate into Syrian state institutions, ending weeks of tensions and armed confrontations with advancing government troops.
Syria’s army also moved into the city of Hasakah on Monday under the deal.
Reporting from near Tell Brak, a city outside of Qamishli, Al Jazeera’s Teresa Bo said hundreds of people were following a convoy of Syrian forces as it made its way towards the city on Tuesday.
She explained that the operation enjoyed “lots of support”, particularly among the local Arab population, as well as within some segments of the Kurdish population.
Still, Bo said, “there’s tension … and certainly there’s a risk of violence”.
On Tuesday evening, Syrian Interior Ministry spokesperson Nour Eddin al-Baba said the SDF had begun handing over control of some security sites in Qamishli to government forces, SANA reported.
Al-Baba said the handover process was proceeding smoothly, the news agency said.
‘Beginning of a new Syria’
Friday’s deal staved off the prospect of further confrontation between Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s government and the SDF, which lost swathes of eastern and northern Syria to government troops in January.
Hailed by the United States as an important step towards unity and reconciliation, the accord foresees a phased integration of Kurdish fighters into government forces.
Bo said that the agreement marks a “big change”, especially for people living in previously SDF-led areas, and that some Kurds are concerned about the prospect of living under Syrian government control.
“However, most of the people we have seen around here [in the Qamishli area] are extremely happy – they say this is the beginning of a new Syria and that this is what the country needs in order to be able to move forward and start reconstruction,” said Bo.
Al-Sharaa’s government, which came to power after the fall of longtime Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, has been trying to bring the fractured country under central rule.
But Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from Aleppo in northern Syria on Tuesday, said the integration process is expected to be “slow and gradual” amid a “deep history of mistrust” among Kurds who were marginalised under al-Assad’s rule.
“Taking territory is one thing, but maintaining security and stability is another,” Khodr said. “It’s a very difficult road ahead.”