DAMASCUS, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Syrian security forces expanded their deployment in northern Syria on Monday and Tuesday under a comprehensive agreement with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to halt hostilities and launch a phased integration of military and administrative structures, state media reported.
On Tuesday, internal security forces entered Qamishli in Hasakah province, according to Syria's state news agency SANA. A curfew was imposed in Qamishli ahead of the deployment, with limited numbers of security personnel taking control of state institutions such as civil registries, passport offices and the airport, while avoiding broader military presence in Kurdish-majority areas.
The latest deployment followed internal security forces' entries on Monday into the nearby city of Hasakah and later into the countryside of Kobani, also known as Ain al-Arab, in Aleppo province. A coordinated humanitarian aid convoy also entered Kobani on Monday.
The moves were taken in implementation of the agreement signed last week, which includes the withdrawal of Kurdish forces from contact lines and the deployment of the interim government's security units into the centers of Hasakah and Qamishli to initiate security integration.
Separately, Syrian interim leader Ahmad al-Sharaa met in Damascus on Tuesday with a delegation from the Kurdish National Council, an SDF-opposed group, reaffirming the interim government's commitment to Kurdish rights under the constitution, read a statement from the Syrian presidency.
In mid-January, al-Sharaa issued a decree affirming the cultural, linguistic and civic rights of Syrian Kurds, underscoring that Syrian Kurds are an "integral and authentic" component of the Syrian nation and recognizing Kurdish as a national language. ■
