Kurdish Media Report Deal on Integrated Project for Northern, Eastern Syria

Members of the Syrian National Army during training in the countryside of Aleppo (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Members of the Syrian National Army during training in the countryside of Aleppo (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Kurdish Media Report Deal on Integrated Project for Northern, Eastern Syria

Members of the Syrian National Army during training in the countryside of Aleppo (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Members of the Syrian National Army during training in the countryside of Aleppo (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The US aims to present an "integrated plan" on northern and eastern Syria after it agreed with Türkiye on a specific formula.

The deal was discussed during the meetings of US envoy to eastern Syria Nicholas Granger with various parties in the region, according to Kurdish media.

Over the past two weeks, Granger has held talks with Kurdish, Arab, Syriac, and Assyrian officials in northeastern Syria ahead of an integrated regional project and a conference for those parties.

According to reports, the US envoy has not proposed anything concrete but is discussing general ideas, such as maintaining stability, including everyone in managing the region, and keeping a non-hostile relationship with Türkiye.

Diplomats concerned with the Syrian file continue to meet, especially after the visit of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to Washington.

Observers believe Ankara slowed its attempts towards normalization with the Assad regime after Cavusoglu visited the US, which explicitly rejected the move.

However, Türkiye aspired to press its demands in northern Syria on the US and Russia's pledge to keep the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) away from its borders for a distance of 30 kilometers to establish a safe zone and complete the secured areas to accommodate the Syrian refugees.

Meanwhile, Türkiye announced it would continue to support the efforts of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to ensure accountability for using these weapons in Syria.

On Friday, OPCW issued the third report of its Investigation and Identification Team (IIT), addressing the chlorine gas attack in Douma, Syria, in 2018, which killed 48 persons.

Commenting on the report, the Turkish Foreign Ministry stated that OPCW established a mandate to identify the parties responsible for the chemical weapons in Syria and concluded in its third report that the regime is the perpetrator of the chlorine gas attack.

The regime's responsibility for another chemical weapons attack has been confirmed, said the ministry.

"Türkiye will continue to support the efforts, first and foremost by the UN and OPCW, aiming at ensuring accountability in Syria," it added.

The OPCW said in its report that its team concluded that there were reasonable grounds to believe that the Syrian Arab Air Forces were the perpetrators of the chemical weapons attack on April 7, 2018 in Douma.

The report stated that based on the assessment of the large volume and wide range of evidence gathered and analyzed, the IIT concluded that in 2018, at least one helicopter of the Syrian "Tiger Forces" Elite Unit dropped two yellow cylinders containing toxic chlorine gas on two apartment buildings in a civilian-inhabited area in Douma.



Death Toll in Israeli Strikes on Gaza Rises to 77 since Ceasefire Deal

Men and children stand next to a destroyed car amidst debris and rubble by a collapsed building at the site of Israeli bombardment on a residential block in Jalaa Street in Gaza City on January 14, 2025 amid the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
Men and children stand next to a destroyed car amidst debris and rubble by a collapsed building at the site of Israeli bombardment on a residential block in Jalaa Street in Gaza City on January 14, 2025 amid the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
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Death Toll in Israeli Strikes on Gaza Rises to 77 since Ceasefire Deal

Men and children stand next to a destroyed car amidst debris and rubble by a collapsed building at the site of Israeli bombardment on a residential block in Jalaa Street in Gaza City on January 14, 2025 amid the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
Men and children stand next to a destroyed car amidst debris and rubble by a collapsed building at the site of Israeli bombardment on a residential block in Jalaa Street in Gaza City on January 14, 2025 amid the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

Israel airstrikes killed at least 77 people in Gaza overnight on Thursday, residents and authorities in the enclave said, hours after a ceasefire and hostage release deal was announced to bring an end to 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas.
The complex ceasefire accord emerged on Wednesday after mediation by Qatar, Egypt and the US to stop the war that has devastated the coastal territory and inflamed the Middle East.
The deal, scheduled to be implemented from Sunday, outlines a six-week initial ceasefire with the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, where tens of thousands have been killed. Hostages taken by militant group Hamas, which controls the enclave, would be freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners detained in Israel.
The deal also paves the way for a surge in humanitarian aid for Gaza, where the majority of the population has been displaced and is facing acute food shortages, food security experts warned late last year.
Rows of aid trucks were lined up in the Egyptian border town of El-Arish waiting to cross into Gaza, once the border is reopened, Reuters reported.
Israel's acceptance of the deal will not be official until it is approved by the country's security cabinet and government, and a vote was slated for Thursday, an Israeli official said.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has delayed the meeting, accusing Hamas of making last-minute demands and going back on agreements.
"The Israeli cabinet will not convene until the mediators notify Israel that Hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement," a statement from Netanyahu's office said.
Hamas senior official Izzat el-Reshiq said on Thursday the group is committed to the ceasefire agreement announced by mediators on Wednesday.
For some Palestinians, the deal could not come soon enough.
"We lose homes every hour. We demand for this joy not to go away, the joy that was drawn on our faces - don't waste it by delaying the implementation of the truce until Sunday," Gazan man Mahmoud Abu Wardeh said.