Kurdish-led forces pulled out on Sunday from Syria’s largest oil field as government troops expanded their control across large parts of the country’s north and east.
Government troops drove Kurdish forces from two Aleppo neighbourhoods following clashes last week, and on Saturday announced they had captured an area east of the city, as well as Tabqa, in Raqqa province, on the southwestern bank of the Euphrates.
At dawn on Sunday, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) withdrew “from all areas under its control in the eastern Deir Ezzor countryside, including the al-Omar and Tanak oil fields”, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
Al-Omar is the country’s largest oil field, and was home to the biggest US base in Syria.
The Kurds’ reported withdrawal there follows the government’s announcement that it had retaken two other oil fields, Safyan and Al-Tharwa, in Raqqa province.
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The government’s advance has so far taken in predominantly Arab areas that fell under Kurdish control during the fight against the Islamic State group.
Clashes erupted after a deal for Kurdish forces to withdraw from areas near Aleppo to the east of the Euphrates collapsed, with both sides reporting casualties.
Each side blamed the other for breaching the agreement.
On Sunday, the Kurdish administration accused government forces of attacking its fighters on multiple fronts, while the army said the SDF had failed to honour a commitment to “fully withdraw” east of the river.
Kurdish authorities imposed a curfew in the Raqqa province after the army declared a stretch of land southwest of the Euphrates a “closed military zone”.
The government advances came as President Ahmed al-Sharaa issued a decree granting the Kurds official recognition in an apparent a goodwill gesture, as his government seeks to assert authority across Syria.
The Kurds’ de facto autonomous administration, which controls large parts of the northeast, has said the announcement fell short, and the implementation of a deal to integrate Kurdish forces into the state has been stalled for months.
