Kurdish forces, Syrian army agree on ceasefire in Hasaka

HASAKA, Syrian Kurdistan (Kurdistan24) – On Tuesday, the Syrian army and the Syrian Kurdish forces of People Protection Units (YPG) along with the Kurdish Security forces (Asayish) agreed on a ceasefire in Syria’s northeastern city of Hasaka.

A Kurdistan24 correspondent embedded with the Kurdish forces in the city reported that the warring parties announced a truce that began in the early morning.

According to the reporter, the parties accepted a ceasefire on the condition that the areas recently controlled by the YPG should be handed to the Asayish.

Nawaf Khalil, head of Germany-based Kurdish Center for Studies (KCS) and a former spokesperson for the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Europe, spoke to Kurdistan24 about the developments.

Khalil said that the Syrian government would only have a small space for administrative and service institutions.

“The Syrian army, the Syrian security forces, and the Pro-Assad militias known as National Defense Forces (NDF) will withdraw from the city,” he said.

“Only Syrian government police will operate in the small square in the center of the city,” he explained.

Additionally, the YPG leadership said in a report published on Tuesday that their forces approved a ceasefire with the Syrian army and their affiliated militias.

“The truce is made on the condition that all forces affiliated with the Syrian government, including the Syrian army units and pro-Assad militias, should be evicted from Hasaka, and thus we agreed,” the YPG statement said.

Another condition is that a small space called “The Security Square” in the city center would be left for public institutions belonging to the Syrian government.

The square will be guarded and run by police belonging to the Syrian government.

Clashes between the Syrian Kurdish Security forces (Asayish) and YPG against the Syrian government broke out on Aug. 16.

The violence was instigated when NDF arrested several Kurds arbitrarily.

Despite the Syrian government launching many aerial strikes and hitting Kurdish-held positions, the Kurdish forces made notable advancements in the past three days, capturing two neighborhoods.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany
(Kurdistan24 correspondents Heybar Othman and Ekrem Salih contributed to this report from Hasaka)