The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said Monday that Turkish drones struck Syria’s northeastern city of Hasaka, but Turkish security sources who spoke to Reuters denied the claim, as tensions rose in the area after a new integration deal with Damascus and fresh fighting near prisons holding Islamic State detainees.
The SDF, backed by the US during the fight against the Islamic State group, controls parts of Hasaka province and have long been targeted by Turkey, which considers the group an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a militant group that has fought a decades-long insurgency inside Turkey.
The reported drone strike came a day after the Syrian government and the SDF announced a broad agreement to bring Kurdish-led civilian and military structures under central government control following days of clashes in northern and eastern Syria. The 14-point deal includes the transfer of border crossings, oil and gas fields and detention sites for Islamic State suspects to Damascus, along with the integration of SDF fighters into state institutions.
Turkey, a key backer of Syria’s interim government under President Ahmed al-Sharaa, has described the agreement as a “historic turning point.”
SDF commander in chief @MazloumAbdi is reportedly back in Hasakah after what Syrian Kurdish officials say was a unsuccessful meeting with Syrian interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa. Yesterday's ceasefire agreement may no longer be valid. No formal announcement yet from the sides.
— Amberin Zaman (@amberinzaman) January 19, 2026
Even as the deal was announced, a meeting between SDF commander Mazloum Abdi and Syrian President al-Sharaa in Damascus did not produce progress, an SDF official told Rudaw, saying Damascus wanted the Kurdish-led administration dismantled.
The SDF also said Syrian government-affiliated forces attacked a prison complex in the northeast holding thousands of Islamic State detainees. The Syrian defense ministry denied attacking prisons and said it was securing areas around the sites as part of a process to transfer them to the interior ministry.
Syrian government forces on Monday consolidated their hold in areas such as Raqqa and Deir al-Zor after an abrupt Kurdish withdrawal. The SDF said dozens of Islamic State prisoners escaped from a jail in Shaddadi during the clashes, while the government said it was working to recapture fugitives and rejected the SDF account.