US State Department spokesman says ceasefire between Kurdish armed group and Turkey-backed fighters extended
\n Damascus
\nThe United Nations special envoy for Syria has warned that the war \u201chas not ended yet\u201d despite the removal of President Bashar al-Assad by opposition fighters, highlighting clashes between Turkish-backed armed groups and Kurdish fighters in the north of the country.
\n\u201cThere have been significant hostilities in the last two weeks, before a ceasefire was brokered,\u201d Geir Pedersen told the UN Security Council in New York on Tuesday, warning that a military escalation could be \u201ccatastrophic\u201d.
\nThe remarks come after the Syrian National Army (SNA), a group of fighters backed by Turkiye, has battled with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the wake of al-Assad\u2019s removal.
\nThe SDF is the main ally in a United States-led coalition against ISIS (ISIL). It is spearheaded by the People\u2019s Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara sees as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers\u2019 Party (PKK) armed group that it outlaws and that has fought the Turkish state for 40 years.
\nLast week, SNA fighters seized the northern city of Manbij from the SDF, which then headed east of the Euphrates river as a US-mediated ceasefire came into effect.
\nMeanwhile, the members of the UNSC in a statement called for the implementation of \u201can inclusive and Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process\u201d that they said should meet the legitimate aspirations of all Syrians, protect all of them and \u201cenable them to peacefully, independently and democratically determine their own futures\u201d.
\nThey emphasised battling \u201cterrorism\u201d across the country, stressed that Syria must abide by council resolutions on non-conventional weapons, and reiterated support for UN peacekeepers and the inviolability of diplomatic premises.
\nSeparately, a US State Department spokesman said the ceasefire in northern Syria had been extended until the end of this week.
\n\u201cWe continue to engage with the SDF, with Turkey about a path forward,\u201d State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, adding it was not in the interest of any party to see increased conflict in Syria.
\nLater on Tuesday, SDF commander Mazloum Abdi said in a post on X that the group was ready to present a proposal for a \u201cdemilitarised zone\u201d in the northern city of Kobane, with the redeployment of security forces under US supervision.
\nHe said the proposal aims to address Turkiye\u2019s security concerns and ensure permanent stability in the area.
\nThere was no immediate comment from Turkiye, the SNA or the US.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu visits Golan
\nPedersen also called on the UNSC to ensure that Israel \u201ccease all settlement activity in the occupied Syrian Golan\u201d.
\nPedersen noted Israel has conducted more than 350 strikes on Syria following the departure of the former regime, including a major strike on Tartous.
\n\u201cSuch attacks place a battered civilian population at further risk and undermine the prospects of an orderly political transition,\u201d he said.
\nThe UN envoy warned against plans announced by Israel\u2019s cabinet to expand settlements inside the Golan, occupied by Israel since 1967 and annexed in 1981.
\nOn Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a security briefing inside the UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights that Israel seized earlier this month.
\n\u201cIsrael must cease all settlement activities in the occupied Syrian Golan, which are illegal. Attacks on Syria\u2019s sovereignty and territorial integrity must stop,\u201d said Pedersen.
\nRob Geist Pinfold, a professor of peace and security at Durham University, told Al Jazeera that \u201cIsrael is looking to launch as many strikes [as possible] while it still has the freedom to do so\u201d.
\nHe suggested that \u201cIsrael is adding to the instability [due to their] fear of power vacuums and ungoverned spaces on their borders\u201d.
\nGeist Pinfold also said that the \u201cinternational community\u2019s response has certainly been lacklustre so far\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
US State Department spokesman says ceasefire between Kurdish armed group and Turkey-backed fighters extended Damascus The United Nations special envoy for Syria has warned that the war \u201chas not ended yet\u201d despite the removal of President Bashar al-Assad by opposition fighters, highlighting clashes between Turkish-backed armed groups and Kurdish fighters in the north of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":450311,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-450287","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n