Syrian government forces and a Kurdish-led militia in northeastern Syria faced a standoff on Saturday as a deadline on their weeklong cease-fire passed, raising questions about whether the truce would give way to renewed fighting.
Syrian government troops have in recent weeks taken control of large areas of territory held by Kurds in eastern and northern Syria, including strategic assets like oil fields and dams, amid intense clashes with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or S.D.F.
The two sides agreed last Sunday to an immediate cease-fire that called for the full integration of Kurdish troops into the national army, a longstanding demand of the Syrian government, as well as the handing over of administrative control of much of the northeast.
The Syrian state news agency SANA reported on Tuesday that the government had given the S.D.F. four days to submit a detailed plan for the integration of Hasakah Province, which was the only province left under the militia’s authority.
It was unclear whether a plan had been submitted, and a spokesman for the group did not immediately respond to requests for comment, including about the cease-fire deadline.
Analysts widely saw the truce deal as a capitulation, because the S.D.F. lost almost all of the concessions the Syrian government had offered in earlier negotiations.
SANA cited an unnamed government source on Saturday night as saying that the cease-fire had ended, and that it was weighing its next steps.
Ahead of the deadline, Syria’s government dismissed reports circulating Saturday on social media that the deadline would be extended, SANA said, citing a foreign ministry official, Mohammad Taha al-Ahmad.
“All options remain on the table, alongside calm and dialogue, to enforce the law, preserve Syria’s unity and safeguard the rights of the Syrian people,” Mr. al-Ahmad said, according to SANA.
The S.D.F. accused the government on social media of deploying troops in breach of the cease-fire, saying it was an effort to “undermine de-escalation and steer the situation toward war instead of political solutions.”
The government’s recent advances have strengthened President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s grip on Syria, more than a year after his rebel forces overthrew the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad, whose family had ruled the country for decades.
Mr. al-Sharaa has sought to bring Syria’s diverse ethnic and religious communities under centralized rule with himself at the helm in the capital, Damascus.
He has also pledged that all of Syria’s minority communities will be protected under his government and, this month, signed a decree affirming Kurdish rights, including calls to restore Syrian citizenship to Kurds stripped of it after a 1962 census.
The S.D.F., which has long positioned itself as the defender of Syrian Kurds and administered a de facto state in northeastern Syria, has posed the most formidable challenge to Mr. al-Sharaa’s effort.
The Kurdish-led militia has resisted full integration into the government’s army, seeking autonomy over its territories and security in northeastern Syria.
Yet those Kurdish forces have also long been key partners of the United States, assisting in the fight against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, guarding American bases and managing detention camps and prisons that housed thousands of jihadists and their families.
The partnership appeared to come undone this week, after the U.S. special envoy to Syria, Thomas J. Barrack, said that Washington no longer viewed Kurdish-led forces as its main partner in the fight against the Islamic State. Mr. Barrack said he believed that the Syrian government was now ready to take on those responsibilities.
That apparent policy shift reflected Washington’s increasing confidence in Mr. al-Sharaa, who maintains a close relationship with President Trump.
The cease-fire remained fragile and, this week, fighting broke out around two prisons in northeast Syria that housed ISIS members, highlighting the vulnerability of the agreement and raising fears that some may escape during the handover process.
On Wednesday, U.S. Central Command, which is responsible for American military operations in the Middle East, said that U.S. forces had already relocated 150 Islamic State fighters from a detention center in northeastern Syria to an undisclosed “secure location” in Iraq.
The military added that as many as 7,000 ISIS detainees currently held in Syria could eventually be transferred to facilities managed by Iraqi authorities.
As part of the cease-fire, the S.D.F. agreed to transfer control of the northern province of Raqqa and the eastern province of Deir al-Zour to the government.
The United Nations has warned of a looming humanitarian crisis in some Kurdish-held cities in Syria, citing disruptions to electricity and water amid bitter winter conditions.
Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesman for the U.N. secretary general, said on Friday that all roads into Kobani, a Kurdish stronghold in northern Syria, were closed, and that disruptions to electricity, water and internet were limiting access to basic services. Food and essential supplies are at risk of shortages, he said, and while health facilities remain open, medicine remains limited.
The U.N. was working with its partners and local authorities to conduct additional assessments and secure access, he said.
Reham Mourshed, Hussam Hammoud and Muhammad Haj Kadour contributed reporting.
Abdi Latif Dahir is a Middle East correspondent for The Times, covering Lebanon and Syria. He is based in Beirut.
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