Syria announced a comprehensive ceasefire with Kurdish forces after a meeting Tuesday between Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi that followed deadly clashes in the northern city of Aleppo.
Syria's authorities, who took power last year after the ouster of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, have rejected Kurdish demands for a decentralised government giving them greater autonomy.
The issue has added to tensions with the Kurdish administration that controls swathes of the north and northeast, while differences between the two sides have held up implementation of a March 10 deal on integrating the Kurds' civil and military institutions into the state.
In a statement on X, Syrian Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra said he had met in Damascus with Abdi, head of the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
"We agreed on a comprehensive ceasefire on all fronts, and on points for military deployment in north and northeast Syria," Qasra said, adding that implementation of the deal would begin immediately.
A government source told AFP the meeting came after Sharaa met with Abdi, the first such encounter since July, and that the pair had discussed "security issues concerning the March 10 agreement".
US envoy for Syria Tom Barrack and Admiral Brad Cooper, head of the US military's Central Command, also attended, the source added, on condition of anonymity.
Barrack said Monday on X that he and Cooper had visited northeast Syria for "substantive conversations" with Abdi.
The Kurdish leader said they had discussed "issues aimed at supporting the political integration in Syria, preserving the country's territorial integrity, and creating a safe environment for all components of the Syrian people", as well as ensuring continued efforts to combat Islamic State group jihadists in the region.
Earlier Tuesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor and state media said clashes had halted in Aleppo.
'Afraid'
At least one member of Syria's security forces and a civilian were killed in bombardment attributed to Kurdish forces that erupted late Monday in Aleppo's Kurdish-majority Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafiyeh neighbourhoods, Syrian state television reported.
"We are afraid and decided this morning to leave our home in Sheik Maqsud," retiree Sinan Rajab Basha, 67, told AFP by telephone.
"We saw a large number of families flee Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafiyeh," he said, adding that the entrances of the districts were blocked and residents who left were not allowed back in.
The Kurds, who carved out their semi-autonomous administration in the chaos of Syria's civil war under Assad, have repeatedly called for decentralisation, a demand the new authorities in Damascus have rejected.
They have also criticised Syria's temporary constitution as failing to reflect the country's diversity, while Kurdish-held Raqa and Hasakeh provinces were excluded from a weekend ballot for members of Syria's new parliament.
Syria's new Islamist authorities have governed Aleppo city since the toppling of Assad in December.
But the Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafiyeh neighbourhoods have remained under the control of Kurdish units linked to the SDF and the Asayish, the Kurds' security forces, despite the SDF having officially withdrawn in April under a disengagement agreement reached with the government.
State news agency SANA reported that the SDF "targeted security checkpoints in the vicinity of Sheikh Maqsud" while dozens of families fled the districts.
The Observatory said Syrian government forces used explosive drones and heavy automatic weapons in the neighbourhoods.
The SDF denied attacking government security forces, accusing pro-Damascus factions of mounting a siege of Kurdish neighbourhoods in Aleppo and trying to push forward "with tanks".
It said residents had taken up weapons to help the Asayish defend the districts.
With AFP
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