Syria’s Kurdish security forces announced a curfew early next week in two cities in the country’s northeast ahead of Sunday’s implementation of a recent deal with the Islamist-led government in Damascus.
Syria’s Kurds imposed curfews in northeastern cities ahead of the official dealDamascus and Kurdish forces reached a comprehensive deal on Friday to gradually integrate Kurdish military and civilian institutions into the state, after the Kurds ceded territory to advancing government forces in recent weeks.
Mazloum Abdi, head of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, said the deal would be implemented from Monday with both sides withdrawing forces from front-line positions in parts of the northeast and the northern city of Kobane.
He said a “limited internal security force” would enter Hasakeh and parts of Qamishli but “no military forces will enter Kurdish towns or cities”.
Kurdish security forces announced a curfew in the northeastern city of Hasakeh from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Monday and in the main northeastern Kurdish city of Qamishli during the same hours on Tuesday.
It said the move was “to maintain safety, stability and security of residents”.
A government security delegation visited their headquarters in Qamishli on Sunday, a source in the Kurdish security forces said.
The text of Friday’s agreement maintains an ongoing ceasefire and introduces a “gradual integration” of Kurdish forces and administrative institutions.
It included some Kurdish demands, such as the establishment of brigades of fighters from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Kurdish-majority areas.
The government’s push to extend its authority across the country was a blow to the Kurds.
They sought to preserve de facto autonomy after seizing parts of northern and northeastern Syria in a battle against the Islamic State jihadist group during Syria’s civil war, backed by the US-led coalition.
– ‘saves us’ –
In Qamishli on Sunday, thousands of Kurdish men, women and children filled the streets in a show of solidarity, waving Kurdish flags and holding photos of slain fighters, an AFP correspondent said.
“We came out for Kurdish unity,” said 18-year-old student Barin Hamza.
He said, we are afraid of betrayal because we do not trust this government.
Housewife Nurshana Mohammed, 40, said that “the presence of the SDF is important for us. It protects us Kurds and protects us from IS”.
Information Minister Hamza Mustafa told state media on Friday that the deal included the handover of several oil fields, the Qamishli airport and the border crossing to the government within 10 days.
He said the SDF fighters would be integrated into several brigades formed under the command of the army separately.
The United States, which has drawn closer to Syria’s new Islamist authority, recently said its alliance with Kurdish forces had largely lost its purpose.
Also on Sunday, the head of internal security in Aleppo province, Mohammad Abdul Ghani, told reporters he had met with Kurdish forces in Kobane to discuss security issues “and to start deploying Interior Ministry forces,” without announcing a timeframe.
He said the technical details still needed to be settled, but the response from the Kurdish side was “positive”.
Located in Aleppo province, more than 200 kilometers from other Kurdish-controlled areas in northeast Syria, Kobane is surrounded by the Turkish border on the north and Syrian government forces on the other.
Kurdish forces liberated Kobane from a long siege by IS in 2015, and it took on symbolic value as their first major victory against the jihadists.
On Saturday, NGOs and a Turkish MP said Turkish authorities had blocked a convoy carrying aid from across the border to Kobane.
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