ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Kurdish and regime forces have agreed to a ceasefire in Hasakah Tuesday, ending a week of clashes in the northern Syrian city they had jointly controlled. The truce between the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) and the Syrian army came into effect at 2 p.m. on Tuesday. Under the terms of the ceasefire agreement, all roads into the city will be reopened and the two forces will exchange prisoners, the injured and bodies of those killed in the fighting, reported Syrian TV. According to sources close to the YPG, under the ceasefire, the Asayesh (Kurdish security forces) will remain in control of all areas the YPG have taken control of and the Syrian forces and affiliated militias will withdraw and are not be permitted to return to the city. A contingent of Syrian police will remain in Hasakah to guard the security square in the city center. Its effective ouster from Hasakah is a serious blow to Damascus, according to the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdulrahman. “Even if they keep a symbolic presence, it is a big defeat for the regime in Hasakah,” he told Reuters. The parties have also agreed to discuss the Kurdish issue, according to Syrian state media SANA. After a week of fighting, Kurdish forces were in control of 90 percent of the city, the Observatory reported on Tuesday, adding that “a number of NDF (National Defense Forces) surrendered to the Kurdish forces in the area of al-Zaiba.” Earlier on Tuesday, the European Syriac Union, representing Syriac Christians, issued a press release urging the European Union and the United States to increase their support for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a northern Syrian military force dominated by the YPG, to protect Syriac Christians in Hasakah. They also stressed the need for humanitarian aid in the city and demanded “that Iraqi Kurdistan ends it blockade against humanitarian aid immediately,” and open the border between the Kurdistan Region and Rojava, northern Syria. Clashes between the two forces broke out in Hasakah last week and quickly escalated when the Syrian army carried out airstrikes on the city. The YPG accused the regime of targeting civilians and called on all ethnic groups in the area to join forces against Damascus. This was the most serious confrontation between the YPG and regime forces in the country’s civil war, now in its sixth year. On Monday, the Pentagon warned the Syrian army against carrying out airstrikes in northern Syria, where the US has Special Forces on the ground advising the YPG and SDF. “We’re going to defend our forces where they are,” said Peter Cook, Pentagon spokesperson, speaking after the US scrambled two jets to respond to Syrian airstrikes in Hasakah. He stressed that Damascus had been informed through Russia of the United States’ presence in the area. “We advise them to steer clear of where we’re operating,” Cook warned.
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