By Nada Maucourant Atallah and Sinan Mahmoud

 

DAMASCUS, 21 January. - (ANA) - Syrian government forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces will observe a four-day ceasefire starting at 8pm on Tuesday after they reached an understanding on a new integration agreement, authorities in Damascus said.

 

The ceasefire was confirmed by both sides after two days of clashes as SDF fighters resisted the advance of government forces despite a truce agreement announced on Sunday.

 

The Syrian Presidency said the SDF would be given four days to consult on a deal including terms for the integration of Hasakah province and the integration of civilian and military structures in SDF-held areas into the Damascus administration.

 

Clashes on Monday and Tuesday around SDF-controlled prisons holding ISIS fighters raised security concerns following reports that some of the prisoners had escaped during the fighting.

 

The SDF said on Tuesday it was “compelled to withdraw” from Al Hol camp, home to many female relatives of ISIS fighters, after “violent clashes” with fighters loyal to Damascus.

 

Al Hol lies in territory acquired by the SDF during the Syrian civil war, when the group was a US ally in the fight against the extremists. But the Syrian government is now moving to retake control of SDF-held areas.

 

The deal agreed on Sunday called for the SDF-held territories to be handed over under a ceasefire. However, the Syrian army's advance was met with Kurdish resistance, with dozens of people reported dead. The SDF called on “young Kurds, men and women” both within and outside Syria to “join the ranks of the resistance”.

 

The Syrian government accused the SDF of trying to “confuse matters” with a clumsy handover of Al Hol. It called on the US to apply pressure on the SDF, which has warned of similar security risks at other ISIS prisons.

 

The government said it “held the SDF leadership fully responsible for any repercussions” arising from the clashes at Al Hol. It said it “will not allow any security vacuum that threatens the safety of the region”.

 

The SDF, in turn, said its troops redeployed “in the vicinity of cities in northern Syria that are facing increasing risks and threats”.

 

 

 

 

The dispute over Al Hol was a setback to the Syrian government to consolidate control of the oil-rich territories in the north-east.

 

Energy Minister Mohammed Al Bashir visited a retaken oilfield in the Raqqa countryside on Tuesday to “assess its condition”, state media said. Education officials were working on restoring Syrian government teaching in the provinces.

 

Extending Damascus's control over the provinces has proved difficult since former rebel commander President Ahmad Al Shara led the offensive in 2024 that removed the regime of former president Bashar Al Assad from power.

 

Tension with the Alawite and Druze minorities led to violent clashes last year, while the Kurdish issue has defied a resolution despite US involvement to broker peace.

 

Syrian sources have told The National that the US is expected to demand concessions from Mr Al Shara, notably a peace treaty with Israel, in return for Washington acquiescing in the defeat of its former SDF allies.

 

The SDF played a major role in dismantling ISIS territory in a campaign that ended in 2019. In the aftermath, Al Hol’s population peaked at more than 70,000, mostly women and children, although some have since left.

 

Syria's Interior Ministry on Tuesday said about 120 ISIS inmates had escaped from another prison, Shaddadi, after fierce clashes between the army and the SDF.

 

The ministry said Syrian ?army units and special forces entered Shaddadi, in Hasakah province, after the jailbreak. It said security forces had recaptured 81 of the escapees after search-and-sweep operations in the town and surrounding areas, with efforts continuing to arrest the remaining fugitives.

 

SDF spokesman Farhad Shami told Kurdish TV channel Rudaw that more than 1,500 prisoners had escaped from the jail in north-eastern Syria. Both sides exchanged blame for allowing the extremists to leave the prison, which had been under SDF control.

 

ISIS cells are understood to be active in Syria, with the ability to launch lethal attacks. Prisons in Syria holding suspected members and their families have until now been under SDF control but recent instability in the area has raised concerns. The SDF has warned that ISIS may seek to exploit the situation.

 

The reported escape of ISIS fighters is worrying diplomats.

 

“This is a big concern for us,” a western diplomat told The National. He added that the ISIS issue in north-east Syria, where thousands of fighters and their families are held in camps and prisons, remains a primary issue. “This is why we have the coalition,” he said.

 

The US-led international coalition was created as part of an effort in 2014 to degrade the group, which was rapidly gaining ground in Syria and Iraq. US President Donald Trump has made the fight against the terrorist group one of his main conditions of support as he re-engaged with the new Syrian government.

 

Last year, Syria joined the international coalition and its effort to contain ISIS – whose sleeper cells remain a threat despite having defeated in Syria in 2017 – in a major diplomatic shift.

 

For expert Cedric Labrousse, the ISIS file has been exploited by the government and the SDF to gain international support. “They’re all playing with ISIS trauma,” he said. “They know it’s going to gain international attention, so both try to deflect responsibility to the other camp.”

 

For the SDF, it’s a way to “reinforce the narrative that Ahmad Al Shara, a former Al Nusra commander, has not changed, and that he and his forces are still jihadists”, said the expert. As for the government, “they want to show that the SDF is not the trustworthy ally the West thought it was”.

 

The Syrian Information Ministry on Monday dismissed warnings and an announcement by the Kurdish administration of an escape attempt at Al Hol camp, which holds thousands of ISIS members and their families. The ministry said the Kurdish leaders' statement featured “a number of fallacies and accusations aimed at misleading international public opinion and creating confusion”.

 

Despite a ceasefire being announced by Mr Al Shara, clashes between the army and the SDF persisted.

 

After Deir Ezzor and Raqqa, convoys of Syrian forces were sent on Monday to Hasakah. Under the agreement, Hasakah civilian institutions are to be integrated into Syria’s central government. Syrian forces have yet to take control of the province or advance deep into the city.

 

The statement from Mr Al Shara's office on Tuesday that under the new agreement, government forces will not enter the cities of Hasakah and Qamishli, or into Kurdish villages. The timeline and details for the integration of Hasakah province will be discussed later, it said.

 

US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack, in a statement released at the same time the new agreement was announced, said Kurds were being offered “a pathway to full integration into a unified Syrian state with citizenship rights, cultural protections, and political participation”.

 

The establishment of a new government in Damascus “shifts the rationale for the US-SDF partnership: the original purpose of the SDF as the primary anti-ISIS force on the ground has largely expired”, Mr Barrack wrote on Twitter.

 

"I like the Kurds," Mr Trump told journalists in the White House on Monday.

 

"But just so you understand, the Kurds were paid tremendous amounts of money, they were given oil and everything, so they were doing it for themselves, more so than they were doing anything for us," he said.

 

"But we got along with the Kurds, and we are trying to protect the Kurds," he added.

 

The fighting in Syria also raised fears in neighbouring Iraq of an ISIS resurgence and infiltration across the border. Shiite cleric and former militia leader Moqtada Al Sadr called on the government to send reinforcements to the frontier.

 

Iraqis' memories are still vivid of when thousands of extremists crossed from Syria after the 2003 US-led invasion, which was followed by years of sectarian killings. The biggest onslaught came in mid-2014 and ended with ISIS controlling much of northern and western Iraq, unleashing a conflict lasting nearly four years.

 

Iraq is “monitoring and following the events in Syria”, Interior Minister Abdul Amir Al Shammari told the state news agency late on Monday.

 

He said the Iraqi-Syrian border is “fully secured and reinforced” with a 620km trench, concrete walls, thermal cameras and drones.

 

“Our forces on the border are sufficient, are fully equipped and are supported by the Army Aviation and the Air Force,” he said. “Any approach to the Iraqi border will be met with gunfire.”

 

Early on Tuesday, Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces, a government-backed umbrella group of paramilitary troops comprising mainly Iran-backed militias, announced the arrest of an ISIS leader who infiltrated from Syria.

 

The PMF described the militant, who was arrested in Mosul’s desert in north-western Iraq, as a “dangerous ISIS leader who is considered one of the prominent field leaders”.

 

He was responsible for “overseeing ISIS operations in Mosul’s desert and Syria, planning attacks and co-ordinating sleeper cells”, it added.

 

ISIS had controlled large areas of territory in Syria and neighbouring Iraq following a lightning 2014 offensive. The group was later defeated and pushed out of nearly all areas it had held, but sporadic attacks have continued.   - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/21 January 2026 - - -