Published on February 3, 2026
Syrian troops have deployed to the northeastern city of Hasakah, previously controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), implementing the first phase of a United States-backed ceasefire agreement.
A large fleet of troops Trucks entered Hasaka on Monday, hours after the SDF imposed a curfew. The Syrian troops arrived as part of a newly brokered deal between Damascus and the SDF announced last Friday.
The agreement aims to consolidate a ceasefire that has halted the conflict during which the SDF has lost significant territory in northeastern Syria.
It establishes a framework for incorporating SDF fighters into the Syrian National Army and police forces, while integrating civilian institutions controlled by the group into the central government structure.
Under the terms of the agreement, government forces will refrain from entering Kurdish-majority areas. However, smaller Interior Ministry security units will control state institutions in Hasakah and Qamishli, including the civil registry, passport offices and airports.
The Kurdish local police will continue security functions in both cities before eventually merging with the Ministry of Interior.
The entry of government forces into Hasaka took place without incident and on schedule.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan – whose government sees the SDF as an extension of the Kurdish-led armed insurgency in Turkey – issued a stern warning to Kurdish forces.
“With the new agreements, a new page has now been opened before the Syrian people,” Erdogan said in a televised speech. “Anyone who tries to sabotage this, I say plainly and openly, will be crushed under it.”
Friday’s agreement includes provisions to establish a military division comprising three SDF brigades, as well as an additional brigade for troops in the group-held city of Ayn al-Arab, also known by its Kurdish name Koba, which will operate under the state-controlled Aleppo governorate.
It also provides for the consolidation of administrative institutions in SDF-controlled territories with state institutions.
According to Syria’s state news agency SANA, Interior Ministry forces began deploying to the countryside near Kobane on Monday.
Since ousting longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad 14 months ago, interim president Ahmed al-Shara’s efforts to unite the fractured nation under central authority have been hampered by deadly clashes with the SDF and other factions.