Syrian government and SDF agree ceasefire amid wider northeast tensions

A ceasefire agreement between the Syrian government and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has taken effect in eastern Raqqa, following five days of intermittent clashes that left fighters dead on both sides and heightened tensions across eastern Syria.

Military sources from the Ministry of Defence told The New Arab's sister outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the two parties reached an agreement on Friday "to stop firing on the fighting axes in the al-Ghanem al-Ali area in eastern rural Raqqa".

The agreement includes holding Syrian army units in the positions they seized "between Thursday night and Friday in the al-Ghanem al-Ali hills adjacent to the Shalish road".

The clashes, which involved infiltration attempts, shelling, and the use of light and medium weapons, resulted in the killing of two members of the Syrian Ministry of Defence forces and around five SDF fighters.

Government units reportedly took control of several points previously used by the SDF to manoeuvre in the area.

The truce follows days of rising tension across northeastern Syria, where political and military disputes between Damascus and the SDF have intensified in the run-up to the year-end deadline for implementing the 10 March integration agreement.

That deal is intended to fold the SDF’s military, security, and administrative structures into Syrian state institutions.

In recent days, political figures interviewed by Al-Araby Al-Jadeed attributed the escalation on the ground to deepening mistrust and manoeuvring ahead of the deadline.

Writer and political researcher Muhannad al-Kattah said the SDF had entered "a phase of unprecedented escalation during the past days", beginning with "fiery statements issued by SDF political and military officials", including accusations that the Syrian army "contains ISIS elements".

He described the escalation as "deliberate and planned", aimed at provoking Damascus into a direct confrontation that would allow the SDF to "market itself as being targeted" and avoid political commitments.

Al-Kattah warned that the situation "resembles to a large extent the 'Suwayda trap'”, referring to attempts to draw the state into an open clash "used later as a political card against it, or as a pretext to bring in external support".

Political analyst Ahmad al-Masalmeh said the SDF’s claims of government-ISIS cooperation were an attempt "to portray government forces and ISIS as one", adding that the SDF appeared to be trying to "drag government forces into a battle before the agreement expires at the end of the year", something he said was happening "in coordination, and perhaps joint planning, with Israel".

Negotiations between Damascus and the SDF were expected to resume after President Ahmad al-Sharaa returned from Washington on 11 November, but no new round has taken place.

Kurdish researcher Jamil al-Hassan attributed the delay to continuing disagreements over the meaning of "decentralisation" and said the government had "returned to rejecting decentralisation due to Turkish pressure".

Amid these political frictions, security incidents have multiplied in Deir ez-Zor. The Internal Security Forces (Asayish) said they faced "two simultaneous attacks" on Friday evening in the towns of Abriha and Dhiban, carried out by what they described as "terrorist cells".

Two attackers on a motorcycle opened fire on a joint Asayish-SDF checkpoint in Abriha at 7 p.m., before fleeing. Around the same time, unknown individuals threw a hand grenade at an Asayish centre in Dhiban. No casualties were reported.

The Asayish said they "responded to the sources of fire" but the attackers withdrew before they could be detained. Additional patrols were deployed and investigations launched to identify those responsible.

Local sources reported a separate attack in the village of al-Arqoub, part of al-Sousa east of Deir ez-Zor, where unknown gunmen fired automatic weapons at an SDF position, also without reported injuries.