Syrian government forces and a Kurdish-led militia in northeastern Syria faced a standoff Saturday as a deadline on their weeklong ceasefire passed, raising questions about whether the truce would give way to renewed fighting.

A Ceasefire Near Collapse

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 SDF.

The two sides agreed Jan. 18 to an immediate ceasefire that called for the full integration of Kurdish troops into the national army, a long-standing 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 Tuesday that the government had given the SDF 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 spokesperson for the group did not immediately respond to requests for comment, including about the ceasefire deadline.

Analysts widely saw the truce deal as a capitulation, because the SDF lost almost all of the concessions the Syrian government had offered in earlier negotiations.

SANA cited an unnamed government source Saturday night as saying that the ceasefire had ended, and that it was weighing its next steps.

Before 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,” al-Ahmad said, according to SANA.

The SDF accused the government on social media of deploying troops in breach of the ceasefire, 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 Ahmad al-Sharaa’s grip on Syria, more than a year after his rebel forces overthrew the dictatorship of Bashar Assad, whose family had ruled the country for decades.

Damascus Tightens Its Grip

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 SDF, 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 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 group, also known as ISIS, guarding American bases and managing detention camps and prisons that housed thousands of jihadis and their families.

The partnership appeared to come undone this past week, after the U.S. special envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, said that Washington no longer viewed Kurdish-led forces as its main partner in the fight against the Islamic State group. 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 al-Sharaa, who maintains a close relationship with President Donald Trump.

U.S. Shift and Rising Humanitarian Risks

The ceasefire remained fragile and, this past 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 U.S. 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 ceasefire, the SDF agreed to transfer control of the northern province of Raqqa and the eastern province of Deir el-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 spokesperson for the U.N. secretary-general, said 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.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Abdi Latif Dahir
c.2026 The New York Times Company