As the Syrian president signed a fragile ceasefire in Damascus, on the ground in Deir Ez-Zour and Raqqa, sporadic fighting continues between the SDF and government forces backed by tribal groups.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/42195551

C.P. Ward
Jan 22, 2026

The months-long standoff between the SDF and the Damascus government turned in the government’s favor on Sunday when Arab tribes in the provinces of Raqqa and Deir Ez-Zour—who had for years been close allies of the SDF in its fight against ISIS—defected to the government and turned their guns on their former comrades. In response, the SDF rapidly withdrew from these largely Arab provinces and established their line of defense further north in the Kurdish heartlands of Qamishli, Kobani, and Hasake.

By Monday, it appeared that a deal had been reached between the two sides to end the killing and integrate the SDF fighters into the military on an “individual” basis. If put into effect, that deal would be a capitulation for the SDF, which had long demanded that its fighters integrate under the new Syrian Ministry of Defense as whole divisions, which would allow them some degree of autonomy from the government. In a stunning coup, Syria’s president, Ahmad Al-Sharaa, seemingly managed to unify Syria with a relatively small price in blood, and on his own terms.