The Syrian army continues to dislodge the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) from areas in northern and northeastern Syria that the SDF have controlled for over a decade.
On Sunday, the government announced the capture of the strategic town of Tabqa, located about 55 kilometers (34 miles) west of the key city of Raqqa, held by the SDF.
According to the official SANA news agency, Information Minister Hamza Almustafa said, “The Syrian army controls the strategic city of Tabqa in the Raqqa countryside, including the Euphrates Dam, which is the largest dam in Syria.”
Later on Sunday, government officials and security sources reported that Syrian government troops had entered the outskirts of Raqqa.
Earlier, Syrian government troopsย drove Kurdish forces out of two neighborhoods in Aleppo last week. On Saturday, the they also took control of an area east of the city.
On Friday, Mazloum Abdi, the Syrian Kurdish leader and SDF chief, had committed to redeploying his forces from outside Aleppo to the east of the Euphrates River.
However, on Saturday, the SDF claimed that Damascus had “violated recent agreements and betrayed our forces,” and clashes erupted with troops south of Tabqa.
Syrian army seizes oil, gas fields
Reports also emerged on Sunday that Kurdish-led forces had withdrawn from the Omar oil field, Syria’s largest, in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor.
Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP that the SDFย “withdrew at dawn on Sunday from all areas under its control in the eastern Deir Ezzor countryside, including the Omar and Tanak oil fields.”
According to Reuters, apart from the Omar oil field, Syrian troops also seized the Conoco gas field in eastern Syria.
The SDF has not confirmed the seizure of the oil and gas field. However, they did say that “factions affiliated with the Damascus government attacked our forces’ positions,” causing clashes in several towns on the east bank of the Euphrates.
The takeover of the oil fields east of the Euphrates River, a major source of revenue for the Kurdish-led forces, is a major blow to the SDF.
Ocalan sees ‘sabotage’ in clashes
Meanwhile, he jailed leader of the Kurdish militant group, Abdullah Ocalan, said that recent deadly clashes in Syria between government forces and Kurdish fighters seek to “sabotage” theย peace process between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Ocalan, who has been leading the Turkish peace process from prison, “sees this situation in Syria as an attempt to sabotage the peace process in Turkey,” according to a delegation from the pro-Kurdish DEM Party who visited him in prison on Saturday.
Last year, the leader of the PKKย called for the group to lay down its weapons and disband after more than four decades of conflict that claimed at least 50,000 lives.
Macron calls forย ‘permanent ceasefire’
On Sunday, France’s President Emmanuel Macron said he had spoken with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa to express his concern about the ongoing government offensive against the SDF.
“A permanent ceasefire is necessary, and an agreement must be reached,” Macron said in a post on X on Sunday. “The unity and stability of Syria depend on it.”
Later in the day, al-Sharaa met with US envoy Tom Barrackย and “affirmed Syria’s unity and sovereignty over all its territory, the importance of dialogue at the current stage and to rebuild Syria with the participation of all Syrians”, a presidency statement said.
Why are Syrian army and SDF clashing?
Fighting broke out between the Syrian army and Kurdish-led forces as negotiations stalled between Damascus and the SDF over an agreement reached in March 2025. The agreement aimed to integrate their forces and allow the central government to take control of institutions, including border crossings and oil fields, in the northeast.
It appeared that the Syrian government was extending its grip on Kurdish-run areas when al-Sharaa issued a decree on Friday declaring Kurdish a “national language” and granting official recognition to the minority group.
However, the Kurds said that Friday’s announcement did not meet their expectations.
During Syria’s civil war, the SDF was considered the United States’ most important ally in fighting the extremist “Islamic State” group, butย the Syrian government accuses the SDF of tolerating al-Assad loyalists and members of the banned PKKย within its ranks.
In turn, Kurdish representatives distrust assurances by al-Sharaa, the former leader of the Islamist group HTS, that their rights will be protected. They also warn of a possible resurgence of the “Islamic State.”
Edited by: Jenipher Camino Gonzalez