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Syrian Democratic Forces Halt Operation with US-led Coalition

Members of Syrian Democratic Forces - Asharq Al-Awsat
Members of Syrian Democratic Forces - Asharq Al-Awsat
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Syrian Democratic Forces Halt Operation with US-led Coalition

Members of Syrian Democratic Forces - Asharq Al-Awsat
Members of Syrian Democratic Forces - Asharq Al-Awsat

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has stopped all joint counter-terrorism operations as a result of Turkish bombardment on its area of control, spokesman Aram Henna said Friday.

SDF is a US-backed group that helped defeat ISIS militants in Syria.

Henna told Reuters that "all coordination and joint counter-terrorism operations with the coalition" as well as "all the joint special operations we were carrying out regularly" had had been halted.

Turkey has ramped up its shelling and air strikes on northern Syria in recent weeks and is preparing a ground invasion against Syrian Kurdish fighters that it dubs terrorists but which make up the bulk of the US-supported SDF.

The SDF has long warned that fighting off a new Turkish incursion would divert resources away from protecting a prison holding ISIS militants or targeting ISIS sleeper cells still waging hit-and-run attacks in Syria.

Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder earlier told reporters that operations against ISIS had not stopped.

SDF head Mazloum Abdi earlier this week told Reuters he wanted a "stronger" message from Washington after seeing unprecedented Turkish deployments along the border.

"We are still nervous. We need stronger, more solid statements to stop Turkey," he said. "Turkey has announced its intent and is now feeling things out. The beginning of an invasion will depend on how it analyses the positions of other countries."

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Arab World

Lebanon PM Says Won’t Allow Country to Be Dragged into New Conflict

Smoke and flames rise from a building after an Israeli airstrike in Ain Qana village, in southern Lebanon, 02 February 2026. (EPA)
Smoke and flames rise from a building after an Israeli airstrike in Ain Qana village, in southern Lebanon, 02 February 2026. (EPA)
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Lebanon PM Says Won’t Allow Country to Be Dragged into New Conflict

Smoke and flames rise from a building after an Israeli airstrike in Ain Qana village, in southern Lebanon, 02 February 2026. (EPA)
Smoke and flames rise from a building after an Israeli airstrike in Ain Qana village, in southern Lebanon, 02 February 2026. (EPA)

Lebanon's prime minister said Tuesday he will not allow his country to be dragged into a new conflict, after Hezbollah warned any attack on its Iranian backer would be an attack on the group.

"We will never allow anyone to drag the country into another adventure," Nawaf Salam said during the World Governments Summit in Dubai, in response to a question about comments made by Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem last week.

Qassem had responded to American threats of military action against Iran, saying: "We will choose at that time how to act... but we are not neutral."

Salam said Hezbollah's decision to enter the Gaza war in support of its ally Hamas had "very big" consequences for Lebanon and that "no one is willing to expose the country to adventures of this kind".

Arab World

Syria Kurds Impose Curfew in Qamishli Ahead of Govt Forces Entry

02 February 2026, Syria, Saran: Syrian internal security forces are preparing near the village of Saran to enter the Kobane region northeast of Aleppo, following an agreement between the SDF and the Syrian government stipulating the entry of a number of Syrian security forces into the cities of Hasakeh, Qamishli, and Kobane to take over government institutions. (dpa)
02 February 2026, Syria, Saran: Syrian internal security forces are preparing near the village of Saran to enter the Kobane region northeast of Aleppo, following an agreement between the SDF and the Syrian government stipulating the entry of a number of Syrian security forces into the cities of Hasakeh, Qamishli, and Kobane to take over government institutions. (dpa)
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Syria Kurds Impose Curfew in Qamishli Ahead of Govt Forces Entry

02 February 2026, Syria, Saran: Syrian internal security forces are preparing near the village of Saran to enter the Kobane region northeast of Aleppo, following an agreement between the SDF and the Syrian government stipulating the entry of a number of Syrian security forces into the cities of Hasakeh, Qamishli, and Kobane to take over government institutions. (dpa)
02 February 2026, Syria, Saran: Syrian internal security forces are preparing near the village of Saran to enter the Kobane region northeast of Aleppo, following an agreement between the SDF and the Syrian government stipulating the entry of a number of Syrian security forces into the cities of Hasakeh, Qamishli, and Kobane to take over government institutions. (dpa)

Kurdish forces imposed a curfew on Kurdish-majority Qamishli in northeastern Syria on Tuesday, ahead of the deployment of government troops to the city, an AFP team reported.

The curfew came after Syrian security personnel entered the mixed Kurdish-Arab city of Hasakeh and the countryside around the Kurdish town of Kobane on Monday, as part of a comprehensive agreement to gradually integrate the Kurds' military and civilian institutions into the state.

The Kurds had ceded territory to advancing government forces in recent weeks.

An AFP correspondent saw Kurdish security forces deployed in Qamishli and found the streets empty of civilians and shops closed after the curfew came into effect early on Tuesday.

It will remain in force until 6:00 am (0300 GMT) on Wednesday.

The government convoy is expected to enter the city later on Tuesday and will include a limited number of forces and vehicles, according to Marwan al-Ali, the Damascus-appointed head of internal security in Hasakeh province.

The integration of Kurdish security forces into the interior ministry's ranks will follow, he added.

Friday's deal "seeks to unify Syrian territory", including Kurdish areas, while also maintaining an ongoing ceasefire and introducing the "gradual integration" of Kurdish forces and administrative institutions, according to the text of the agreement.

It was a blow to the Kurds, who had sought to preserve the de facto autonomy they exercised after seizing vast areas of north and northeast Syria in battles against the ISIS extremist group during the civil war, backed by a US-led coalition.

Mazloum Abdi, head of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), had previously said the deal would be implemented on the ground from Monday, with both sides to pull forces back from frontline positions in parts of the northeast, and from Kobane in the north.

He added that a "limited internal security force" would enter parts of Hasakeh and Qamishli, but that "no military forces will enter any Kurdish city or town".

Arab World

Sudan Army Breaks Siege on Key Southern City of Kadugli

A volunteer fills water containers at a free distribution point, due to water outages in Khartoum, Sudan, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)
A volunteer fills water containers at a free distribution point, due to water outages in Khartoum, Sudan, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)
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Sudan Army Breaks Siege on Key Southern City of Kadugli

A volunteer fills water containers at a free distribution point, due to water outages in Khartoum, Sudan, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)
A volunteer fills water containers at a free distribution point, due to water outages in Khartoum, Sudan, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)

Sudanese army forces broke Tuesday a siege by the Rapid Support Forces on the South Kordofan state capital Kadugli, two army sources told AFP.

"Our forces have entered Kadugli and lifted the siege," one said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

Famine-hit Kadugli was long besieged by the RSF and their local allies, at war with Sudan's regular army since April 2023.