Syrians greet extended army-SDF ceasefire with guarded optimism | Syria’s War News

Syrians in the northeast of the country have welcomed an extended ceasefire of 15 more days between the military and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) a day after its announcement.

Government troops have seized large swaths of northern and eastern territory in recent weeks from the SDF in a rapid turn of events that has consolidated the rule of President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s administration as Syria seeks internal stability and reintegration into the international community and the economic revival that it hopes comes with it. The eruption of fighting has rocked a nation trying to recover from nearly 14 years of war.

The truce extension has offered a respite as the army closed in on the last SDF strongholds last week. Al-Sharaa abruptly announced the ceasefire on January 17, giving the SDF until Saturday night to lay down its arms and come up with a plan to integrate itself into the army or to resume fighting.

The extension gives the SDF more time for such a plan.

Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi, reporting from Raqqa, said the ceasefire extension has been received positively in the region. “The news certainly lifted the mood of the residents here in Raqqa,” he said.

He added that locals said they want long-term stability with schools, which “have not been operational in a meaningful manner in a decade”, reopening in the region.

Basravi said the government aims to use the coming two weeks to “cement a long-term ceasefire and focus on reconstruction efforts”.

Extension after truce expires

An hour before midnight – three hours after the four-day truce expired – the Ministry of Defence announced that its forces would cease military operations for a further 15 days to support an ongoing US operation to transfer ISIL (ISIS) detainees from SDF prisons in Syria to Iraq.

The SDF confirmed the extension, saying it was reached “through international mediation while dialogue with Damascus continues”.

“Our forces affirm their commitment to the agreement and their dedication to respecting it, which contributes to de-escalation, the protection of civilians, and the creation of the necessary conditions for stability,” it said in a statement.

Basravi said Syrians in Raqqa have been celebrating not only the extended truce but also the release of people there, including minors, from al-Aqtan prison who locals said have been imprisoned on unjust charges.

“The Syrian administration here is going through all of those case logs and looking for anyone who is underage or unjustly accused,” Basravi said. “They are separating dangerous detainees, particularly the ISIL ones, from everyone else.”

Kurdish authorities who previously managed al-Aqtan prison said in a statement on Saturday that a section of it held juveniles “who were involved in crimes” as well as “others who had fallen victim to recruitment and exploitation by ISIS”.

“Due to security circumstances, the Prisons Administration transferred these juveniles approximately three months ago from the juvenile detention centre to al-Aqtan Prison,” the statement said, adding that they received special treatment in accordance with international standards during their time there.

Kobani’s humanitarian crisis

Basravi noted that the international community has been worried about the humanitarian conditions in the Kurdish-majority city of Kobani, also known as Ain al-Arab, in northern Syria, where some of the SDF forces have withdrawn as the Syrian army advanced in the region.

He added that the United Nations in Syria and the government confirmed the arrival of a humanitarian convoy of 24 trucks carrying food, fuel and relief items in the city, which has been harshly impacted by the hostilities, suffering days without power and water.

Dilo Doman, an armed Kurdish volunteer in the northeastern SDF-held town of Hasakah, said fighters were deployed on the front line with “high morale”.

“As far as it takes, we will not attack, but they might attack,” he told Al Jazeera.

“We are ready if the war erupts.”

Fraught government-SDF talks

Al-Sharaa, whose forces toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in a lightning offensive in late 2024, has promised to bring all of Syria under state control, including SDF-held areas in the northeast.

But Kurdish authorities, who have run autonomous civilian and military institutions there for the past decade, have resisted joining with state and military institutions.

After a year-end deadline for the merger passed with little progress, Syrian troops launched their offensive this month.

They swiftly captured two key Arab-majority provinces from the SDF, bringing key oilfields, hydroelectric dams and facilities holding ISIL fighters and affiliated civilians under government control.

Labib Nahhas, a Syrian political analyst, believes the ceasefire extension happened because the SDF has not decided what to do with its agreement with the Syrian government.

“It is no secret that there is a massive division in the leadership ranks of the organisation – between the PKK-linked elements and what we could call the more moderate elements within the leadership,” he told Al Jazeera from London, referring to the Turkiye-based Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which is designated as a “terrorist” group by Turkiye, the United States and European Union.

“There has not been a decision. There have not been any real confidence-building measures between the Syrian authorities and the SDF,” Nahhas said, adding that the two sides’ communications have been based on exchanging accusations in the past few days.

ISIL swept across Syria and Iraq in 2014, taking over vast swaths of both countries and declaring Raqqa its de facto capital, committing massacres and other atrocities before ultimately being vanquished by a United States-led coalition, in which the SDF did most of the fighting.

There have been concerns of a regional ISIL resurgence, especially in Syria, where the group has carried out deadly attacks on Syrian and US forces.