Syrian government forces entered Deir Hafer and Maskana in northern Syria on Saturday after Kurdish-led fighters said they would evacuate the area to avoid conflict, the Associated Press reported. The developments came as the country’s north reeled from earlier fighting this month between government troops and the U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in and around Aleppo, Syria’s largest city.
AP reported that the Syrian government forces moved into Deir Hafer after bulldozers removed barriers, with an AP reporter seeing tanks, armored personnel carriers and other vehicles, including pickup trucks with heavy machine guns mounted on top. AP said there was no SDF presence visible on the edge of Deir Hafer as the convoy entered.
State media reported that government forces met resistance when they entered Maskana, saying two soldiers were killed and others were wounded in a clash. Clashes were also reported in other parts of northern Syria as government forces pushed east, AP reported.
The Syrian military said its forces were in full control of Deir Hafer, and that they had captured the Jarrah air base to the east. It also said troops were in the process of clearing mines and explosives and that they would move toward Maskana, where AP later saw a military convoy rolling in hours after Deir Hafer fell under government control.
Residents welcomed the entry of government troops in different ways. Hussein Mustafa, AP reported, said as he welcomed troops into Deir Hafer: “Our happiness is beyond expression. It is the happiness of liberation,” and he criticized the SDF. Mohammed al-Jaber told AP: “The Syrian Arab Army came here and liberated us from this terrorist organization.”
The SDF, for its part, said the entry by Syrian forces violated a prior agreement. In a statement cited by AP, the SDF said that, according to the agreement, Syrian forces were supposed to enter Deir Hafer and Maskana after Kurdish-led fighters finished withdrawing. It accused Damascus of entering before the SDF’s withdrawal was complete, saying: “Damascus violated the terms of the agreement and entered the towns before our fighters had fully withdrawn, creating a highly dangerous situation with potentially serious repercussions.”
State news agency SANA reported a different account, saying the SDF “violated the agreement” by targeting an army patrol near Maskana. SANA reported that the attack left two soldiers dead and others wounded. AP also said the government’s advance continued eastward, reaching two villages in the northern province of Raqqa.
Over the previous two days, more than 11,000 people fled Deir Hafer and Maskana using side roads to reach government-controlled areas, AP reported, after the government announced an offensive to take the towns. The pressure was part of a rapid shift after the SDF’s top commander, Mazloum Abdi, posted on X late Friday that his group would withdraw from contested areas in northern Syria. AP reported that Abdi said fighters would relocate east of the Euphrates starting at 7 a.m. (0400 GMT) Saturday.
AP said U.S. involvement helped ease the immediate tension, with U.S. military officials visiting Deir Hafer on Friday and holding talks with SDF officials in the area. Later on Saturday, Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, welcomed ongoing efforts by all parties in Syria “to prevent escalation and pursue resolution through dialogue,” AP reported. Cooper also urged Syrian government forces to “cease any offensive actions in areas between Aleppo” and the town of Tabqa to the east, AP said.
Abdi was scheduled to meet the U.S. special envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil on Saturday, AP reported. A Kurdistan Democratic Party official told AP that Kurdish officials had asked the SDF to withdraw from parts of northern Syria, but the Kurdish force in Syria rejected that request. The official said Barzani communicated with interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who requested that Barzani act as a mediator, and that the initiative led to the expected meeting between Abdi and Barrack. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details with media.
AP also linked the SDF’s decision to withdraw from Deir Hafer to a decree issued by al-Sharaa that boosted Kurdish rights. AP reported that the decree recognized Kurdish as a national language alongside Arabic and made Newroz an official holiday. The Kurdish-led authority in northeast Syria said Saturday that those rights should not be protected by “temporary decrees,” AP reported, and argued instead that they should be guaranteed by mentioning them in the country’s constitution. It added that “a decree ‘does not form a real guarantee for rights of Syria’s ethnic groups.’”