The Syrian government and Kurdish forces have agreed to extend a ceasefire set to expire Saturday, as part of a broader deal on the future of Kurd-majority areas.
– On Tuesday, Damascus and the SDF agreed to a four-day ceasefire after Kurdish forces relinquished swathes of territory to government forces, which also sent reinforcements to a Kurdish stronghold in the northeast.
– The ceasefire, due to expire on Saturday evening, will be extended “for a period of up to one month at most.
– The ceasefire has been extended until a mutually acceptable political solution is reached.
– A Syrian official in Damascus said the “agreement is likely to be extended for one month,” adding that one reason is the need to complete the transfer of ISIS detainees from Syria to Iraq.
– After the SDF lost large areas to government forces, Washington said it would transfer 7,000 ISIS detainees to prisons in Iraq.
– Europeans were among 150 senior IS detainees who were the first to be transferred on Wednesday.
– The transfer is expected to last several days.
– The truce between Damascus and the Kurds is part of a new understanding over Kurdish-majority areas in Hasakeh province, and of a broader deal to integrate the Kurds’ de facto autonomous administration into the state.
– The Kurdish source said the SDF submitted a proposal to Damascus through US envoy Tom Barrack that would have the government managing border crossings — a key Damascus demand.
– It also proposes that Damascus would “allocate part of the economic resources — particularly revenue from border crossings and oil — to the Kurdish-majority areas.
– Earlier this month, the Syrian army recaptured oil fields, including the country’s largest, while advancing against Kurdish forces.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2026/01/24/syrian-govt-kurds-to-extend-truce-sources