Syria Reasserts Control Over Kurdish Territories Amidst Limited Rights Recognition
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A recent Syrian government offensive has dislodged Kurdish forces from key areas in the north of the country, coinciding with a presidential decree granting limited recognition of Kurdish rights.
Syria’s army has taken control of significant portions of the country’s north, effectively ending over a decade of de facto Kurdish autonomy in the region. The advance follows a stalled agreement intended to integrate Kurdish forces into the state army, and occurs shortly after president Ahmed al-Sharaa issued a decree declaring Kurdish a “national language” and extending official rights to the Kurdish population.
The Syrian army announced the capture of two oil fields in the area.
An AFP correspondent observed fighters from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) departing Deir Hafer, approximately 50km east of Aleppo, as residents returned under increased Syrian army presence. the Syrian army reported four soldiers killed, while kurdish forces acknowledged casualties among their fighters. Both sides accused each other of violating the terms of the withdrawal agreement.
In response to the army’s actions, Kurdish authorities imposed a curfew in the Raqa region, designating a large area southwest of the Euphrates River as a “closed military zone” and warning of targeted strikes against perceived military sites. Despite an earlier commitment from Syrian Kurdish leader and SDF chief Mazloum Abdi to redeploy forces east of the Euphrates, the SDF alleged that Syria had “violated the recent agreements and betrayed our forces,” leading to clashes south of Tabqa. The army subsequently urged the SDF to fully withdraw to the east of the Euphrates River.
A Decade of Control and Shifting Alliances
The SDF has maintained control over substantial swathes of Syria’s oil-rich north and northeast for the past decade, gaining territory during the country’s civil war and in the fight against the Islamic state group. This control has presented a complex geopolitical dynamic,attracting the support of the United States while also navigating the evolving relationship with Syria’s central government.
US envoy Tom Barrack met with Abdi in Erbil on Thursday, according to a statement from the presidency of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region. The United States has historically supported Kurdish forces, but also maintains ties with syria’s current authorities. The US military’s Central Command has called for syrian government forces to halt offensive actions between Aleppo and al-Tabqa. France’s President Emmanuel macron and the president of Iraqi Kurdistan, Nechirvan Barzani, have jointly appealed for de-escalation and a ceasefire.
Limited Recognition and Unmet Aspirations
President al-Sharaa’s decree on Friday marked the first formal acknowledgement of Kurdish rights since Syria’s independence in 1946. The decree affirmed that Kurds are “an essential and integral part” of Syria, acknowledging decades of marginalization and oppression. It designated kurdish as a “national language” and restored nationality to Kurds, reversing a controversial 1962 census that had stripped citizenship from approximately 20% of the population.
However, the Kurdish administration in northeast Syria characterized the decree as “a first step” that “does not satisfy the aspirations and hopes of the Syrian peopel.” A resident of Qamishli, the main Kurdish city in the northeast, stated, “We want constitutional recognition of the Kurdish people’s rights.”
According to Nanar Hawach, a senior Syria analyst at the International Crisis Group, the decree “offers cultural concessions while consolidating military control.” He added, “It does not address the northeast’s calls for self-governance,” and noted that al-Sharaa “is comfortable granting cultural rights, but draws the line at power-sharing.” Hawach argued that Syria appears to be attempting “to drive a wedge between Kurdish civilians and the armed forces that have governed them for a decade.”
Meanwhile,the US military reported that a strike in northwest Syria earlier in the week killed a militant linked to an attack that claimed the lives of three Americans last month.
