Kurdish forces withdrawing from Syrian area under landmark deal
Kurdish-led forces on Friday started pulling out from Syria's northern province of Aleppo under a recent deal reached between the US-backed militia and the country's new leadership.
Members of the Kurdish-led People's Defence Units (YPG), also called People's Protection Units, began withdrawing from two neighbourhoods in Aleppo.
Kudish sources confirmed to dpa the YPG withdrawal from Sheikh Maksoud and Ashrafieh neighbourhoods towards areas east of the Euphrates river.
Syria's state news agency SANA also reported that the first military convoy started leaving both neighbourhoods.
The process is being carried out under US supervision, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said.
Last month, the Kurdish-led US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia agreed with the new leadership in Syria to fully integrate into state institutions.
The landmark pact was signed by Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and the SDF commander Mazloum Abdi.
The agreement puts "all civil and military institutions" in north-eastern Syria, which are controlled by the Kurds, under the administration of the Syrian state, including border crossings, the airport, and oil and gas fields.
The deal also includes the release of 170 SDF prisoners and the return of remains of Kurdish fighters killed in fighting.
The agreement commits the SDF to support the government's efforts for combating remnants of Syria's long-time dictator Bashar al-Assad's regime, who was overthrown by an Islamist-led rebel alliance commanded by al-Sharaa in December.
The deal was hammered out after years of conflict, particularly over Kurdish autonomy, and is seen as a crucial step toward healing the wounds of the Syrian civil war.
SDF forces spearheaded the fight that helped oust the extremist Islamic State group from its remaining territory held in Syria in 2019.
Turkey views SDF as an offshoot of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and therefore considers it a terrorist organization.
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