QAMISHLI — A mood of cautious anticipation hangs over the last parts of northeastern Syria controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), where residents are waiting to see what comes next. Syrian government security forces entered Hasakah city, Qamishli and the Shuyukh area west of Kobani (Ain al-Arab) last week as part of a January 30 integration agreement between the SDF and Damascus. In Hasakah and Qamishli, public expressions of support for the deployment of Damascus’s Internal Security Forces were small, and limited to some Arab-majority neighborhoods. No similar scenes of welcome were seen in Kurdish-majority neighborhoods—but nor were there scenes of explicit rejection. At the western entrance to Qamishli city, a small group gathered as government forces entered on February 3, holding Kurdish flags and chanting slogans glorifying the “Rojava resistance.” In Hasakah city, a group of journalists and members of the SDF-affiliated Asayish security forces repeated similar slogans. Public sentiment varies across SDF areas of northeastern Syria, especially among Kurds. For now, many prefer wary watchfulness to publicly expressing any strong position. Syria Direct spoke with a range of civilian Kurdish sources in Hasakah and Qamishli about their views of the integration agreement and changing reality in northeastern Syria. While all are cautious, most hope the current understanding persists and the ceasefire holds, sparing the region from a military confrontation with catastrophic humanitarian consequences. The latest integration agreement “gave us a sense of reassurance that there will be no killing or displacement, especially with the entry of the security forces,” Hasakah city resident Nazdar Muhammad, 43, said. Relief and worry Across the political, social and cultural spectrum, Kurds in northeastern Syria met the latest agreement with a sense of relief. However, “this relief is mixed with great anxiety,” Abdulhamid Suleiman, a journalist from Ras al-Ain (Serekaniye) living in Qamishli, told Syria Direct . “The government and the factions that are part of it have caused massacres and disasters within other Syrian communities, not to mention that hate speech against Kurds is at its most intense,” he added. Many Kurds fear “violations, individual behaviors and [Damascus’s] inability to control the forces,” Abdulbaset Sieda, a Syrian Kurdish politician and academic, told Syria Direct . These are “legitimate” concerns,” he added, given “experiences in other areas that left deep wounds in the Syrian body and memory.” Suleiman and Sieda referred to sectarian killings that took place during violence in Alawite communities on the Syrian coast in March 2025, and in the Druze-majority province of Suwayda the following July. “Confidence in these forces’ ability to impose security and stability is not entirely solid,” Sieda said. “There are widespread fears of possible disputes, disagreements or even differing interpretations of some of the agreed-upo
Originally reported by Syria Direct. Published on ABN12.