DAMASCUS, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Forces of the Syrian interim government on Monday expanded deployments across northern and eastern Syria after attacks blamed on armed groups linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) left three soldiers dead, testing a newly reached agreement between the authorities and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
In statements carried by Syria's state news agency SANA, the army said groups affiliated with the PKK had attempted to disrupt the implementation of the agreement by targeting deployed military units. The statement said two separate attacks on army positions killed three soldiers and injured others.
Despite the incidents, the army said units were continuing their organized advance in Syria's Jazira region -- a term referring to the northeastern part of the country between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, stretching toward the Turkish and Iraqi borders -- and secured additional areas along the strategic M4 international highway and in the eastern and northern countryside of Hasakah province.
The Syrian interim government urged the SDF to refrain from targeting deployed forces and to adhere to the agreement reached a day earlier, which established a ceasefire framework and paved the way for the return of state authority over key areas and institutions.
The deployments are part of a broader effort by Damascus to reassert control over the Raqqa and Deir al-Zour provinces, following days of clashes that preceded the latest deal with the SDF. Under the agreement, SDF forces are to withdraw from areas west of the Euphrates River, with the interim government taking control of key infrastructure, energy facilities, and administrative institutions.
In Deir al-Zour, the interior authority said its units had entered the eastern countryside under a comprehensive security plan aimed at establishing an organized presence across towns and villages, protecting civilians and public and private property, and reinforcing stability.
The defense authority said the army's air force, in coordination with the military medical services administration, has been evacuating civilians with critical injuries from hospitals in Deir al-Zour to Damascus and Aleppo aboard military aircraft.
Meanwhile, civil defense teams arrived in Raqqa province on Monday to begin emergency response operations. The teams said they had started firefighting, ambulance services, and road-clearing efforts in the city of Tabqa to facilitate movement and humanitarian access after days of disruption. ■
