Syrian government forces enter northern towns after Kurdish fighters withdraw

DEIR HAFER, Syria (AP) — Syrian government forces entered two northern towns Saturday morning after the command of Kurdish-led fighters said that it would evacuate from the area, in an apparent move to avoid conflict.

Two soldiers were killed and others wounded in a clash as they entered the town of Maskana, state media reported. Clashes were reported in other parts of northern Syria as government forces pushed east.

Meanwhile, troops made their way into the town of Deir Hafer. The two towns changed hands after deadly fighting erupted earlier this month between government troops and the U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, in the city of Aleppo, Syria’s largest. It ended with the evacuation of Kurdish fighters from three neighborhoods taken over by government forces.

An Associated Press reporter on Saturday saw government tanks, armored personnel carriers and other vehicles, including pickup trucks with heavy machine guns mounted on top, entering Deir Hafer after bulldozers removed barriers. There was no SDF presence on the edge of the town.

The Syrian military said its forces were in full control of Deir Hafer, captured the Jarrah air base to the east, and were in the process of clearing mines and explosives. It added that troops would move toward the nearby town of Maskana, where an AP reporter saw a military convoy rolling in hours later.

“Our happiness is beyond expression. It is the happiness of liberation,” said Hussein Mustafa as he welcomed troops entering Deir Hafer. He blasted the SDF, saying residents can now celebrate that government forces are in charge at last.

Another resident, Mohammed al-Jaber, said: “The Syrian Arab Army came here and liberated us from this terrorist organization.”

For years, the SDF has been the main U.S. partner in Syria in the fight against the Islamic State group, but Ankara considers the SDF a terrorist organization because of its association with Kurdish separatist insurgents in Turkey. Some of the factions that now make up the Syrian army were formerly Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.

The SDF said in a statement that, according to an agreement, Syrian forces were supposed to enter Deir Hafer and Maskana after the Kurdish-led force ended their withdrawal.

“Damascus violated the terms of the agreement and entered the towns before our fighters had fully withdrawn, creating a highly dangerous situation with potentially serious repercussions,” the SDF said.

State news agency SANA reported that SDF fighters “violated the agreement" by targeting an army patrol near Maskana, leaving two soldiers dead and others wounded. SANA added that government forces kept moving east, reaching two villages in the northern province of Raqqa.

Over the past two days, more than 11,000 people fled Deir Hafer and Maskana using side roads to reach government-controlled areas, after the government announced an offensive to take the towns.

On Friday night, after government forces started pounding SDF positions in Deir Hafer, the Kurdish-led fighters’ top commander, Mazloum Abdi, posted on X that his group would withdraw from contested areas in northern Syria. Abdi said that SDF fighters would relocate east of the Euphrates River starting at 7 a.m. (0400 GMT) Saturday.

The easing of tension came after U.S. military officials visited Deir Hafer on Friday and held talks with SDF officials in the area. The United States has good relations with both sides and has urged calm.

Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of the U.S. Central Command, welcomed in a statement Saturday evening ongoing efforts by all parties in Syria to prevent escalation and pursue resolution through dialogue.

“We also urge Syrian government forces to cease any offensive actions in areas between Aleppo” and the town of Tabqa to the east, Cooper said.

Aggressively pursuing IS and relentlessly applying military pressure requires teamwork among Syrian partners in coordination with U.S. and coalition forces, he said.

Abdi was scheduled to hold talks with the U.S. special envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil on Saturday.

In Irbil, an official with Iraq's Kurdistan Democratic Party, or KDP, said that its officials had asked the SDF to withdraw from parts of northern Syria, but the Kurdish force in Syria rejected. According to the official, KDP leader Masoud Barzani communicated with interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who requested that Barzani act as a mediator — an initiative Abdi also accepted.

The official said Barzani's initiative led to the expected meeting between Abdi and Barrack in Irbil, in which they will work toward an arrangement to keep SDF forces east of the Euphrates and prevent a return to fighting. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak with the media.

The SDF’s decision to withdraw from Deir Hafer was made after al-Sharaa issued a decree Friday boosting the rights of the country’s Kurds, who made up about 10% of Syria’s population of 23 million before the conflict began in 2011. Over the past several decades, Syria’s Kurds have been marginalized and deprived of their cultural rights under the rule of the Baath Party that ran Syria for six decades until President Bashar Assad’s fall in December 2024.

Al-Sharaa’s decree recognized Kurdish as a national language, along with Arabic, and adopted the Newroz festival, a traditional celebration of spring and renewal marked by Kurds around the region, as an official holiday.

The Kurdish-led authority in northeast Syria said Saturday that the rights of Kurds should not be protected by “temporary decrees” but by mentioning them in the country's constitution. It added that a decree “does not form a real guarantee for rights of Syria's ethnic groups.”

Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed to this report from Baghdad.

Syrian government forces enter the town of Deir Hafer, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026, following the withdrawal of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

People celebrate as Syrian government forces enter the town of Deir Hafer, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026, following the withdrawal of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

People celebrate as Syrian government forces enter the town of Maskana, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026, following the withdrawal of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

A convoy of Syrian government forces drive on a road leading to the town of Deir Hafer, Syria, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Syrian government soldiers carry machine guns as they ride motorcycles on a road leading to the town of Deir Hafer, Syria, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Syrian government soldiers drive a vehicle with heavy machine gun mounted on top on a road leading to the town of Deir Hafer, Syria, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

A convoy of Syrian government forces drives on a road leading to the town of Deir Hafer, Syria, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Syrian government soldiers carry machine guns as they ride motorcycles on a road leading to the town of Deir Hafer, Syria, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

TENERIFE, Spain (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization sought Saturday to reassure residents of the Spanish island where passengers of a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship are expected to be evacuated, issuing them a direct message that the virus was “not another COVID.”

The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, with more than 140 passengers and crew on board, is headed to Spain's Canary Islands, off the coast of West Africa, and is expected to arrive at the island of Tenerife early Sunday.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, along with Spain’s Health Minister Monica Garcia and Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, were due on the island Saturday to coordinate the disembarkation of passengers and some crew.

“I know you are worried. I know that when you hear the word ‘outbreak’ and watch a ship sail toward your shores, memories surface that none of us have fully put to rest. The pain of 2020 is still real, and I do not dismiss it for a single moment,” Tedros said in a message to the people of Tenerife.

“But I need you to hear me clearly: This is not another COVID. The current public health risk from hantavirus remains low. My colleagues and I have said this unequivocally, and I will say it again to you now,” Tedros added.

The WHO, Spanish authorities and cruise company Oceanwide Expeditions said nobody on the Hondius is currently showing symptoms of the virus.

Hantavirus can cause life-threatening illness. It usually spreads when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings and isn’t easily transmitted between people. But the Andes virus detected in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.

Three people have died since the outbreak, and five passengers who left the ship are infected with hantavirus.

Some on Tenerife say they are worried. On board the cruise ship, some Spanish passengers have voiced concern about being stigmatized.

“I tell you, I don’t like this very much,” said 69-year-old resident Simon Vidal. “Anyone can say what they want. Why did they have to bring a boat from another country here? Why not anywhere else, why bring it to the Canary Islands?”

Others said they empathized with the boat's passengers, but were still concerned.

“The truth is that it is very worrying,” said 27-year-old Venezuelan immigrant Samantha Aguero. She added: “We feel a bit unsafe, we don’t feel as there are 100% security measures in place to welcome it. This is a virus after all and we have lived this during the pandemic. But we also need to have empathy.”

Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia said passengers and some crew would disembark in Tenerife “under maximum safety conditions.”

The ship will not dock but will remain at anchor. Everyone disembarking will be checked for symptoms and won't be taken off the ship until a flight is already in Tenerife waiting to fly them off the island, Garcia said during a news conference in Madrid. There are currently people of more than 20 different nationalities on board.

Both the U.S. and the U.K. have agreed to send planes to evacuate their citizens. Americans are to be quarantined at a medical center in Nebraska.

All Spanish passengers will be transferred to a medical facility and quarantined, Garcia said. Oceanwide has listed 13 Spanish passengers and one Spanish crew member on board.

Those disembarking will leave behind their luggage, Garcia said, and will be allowed to take only a small bag with essential items, a cellphone, charger and documentation.

Some crew, as well as the body of a passenger who died on board, will remain on the ship, which will sail on to the Netherlands, where it will undergo disinfection, the minister added.

According to a letter sent by the Dutch foreign and health ministers to parliament late Friday, Spain has activated the EU civil protection mechanism for a medical evacuation plane equipped for infections diseases to be on standby in case anyone on the ship becomes ill. That person would then be transported by air to the European mainland.

The Dutch government will work with Spanish authorities and the ship company to arrange repatriation of Dutch passengers and crew as soon as possible after arrival in Tenerife, subject to medical conditions and advice from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the letter said. Those without symptoms will go into home quarantine for six weeks and be monitored by local health services.

As the ship is Dutch-flagged, the Netherlands may also temporarily accommodate people of other nationalities and monitor them in quarantine, it said.

Health authorities across four continents were tracking down and monitoring more than two dozen passengers who disembarked before the deadly outbreak was detected. They were also scrambling to trace others who may have come into contact with them.

On April 24, nearly two weeks after the first passenger had died on board, more than two dozen people from at least 12 different countries left the ship without contact tracing, Dutch officials and the ship’s operator have said.

It wasn’t until May 2 that health authorities first confirmed hantavirus in a passenger.

Dutch public health authorities have been monitoring people who were on a flight that was briefly boarded by a Dutch ship passenger who later died and was confirmed to have hantavirus. Three people who were on the flight and had symptoms have all tested negative for hantavirus, Dutch National Institute for Public Health spokesperson Harald Wychgel told The Associated Press on Saturday.

Becatoros reported from Sparta, Greece. Associated Press reporters Angela Charlton in Paris and Helena Alves in Tenerife contributed to this report.

A Spanish Civil Guard officer inspects the area where passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship are expected to arrive at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Media crew members stand in the area where passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship are expected to arrive at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Workers set up temporary shelters in the area where passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship are expected to arrive at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Passengers on the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, scan the horizon with binoculars during their voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)

Passengers on the the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, watch epidemiologists board the boat in Praia, during their voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)

A passenger checks his camera inside his cabin on the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, during the voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)

Crew members of the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, wait their turns for a first interview with epidemiologists, during the voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)

A passenger on the the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, takes a photo of the ship's weighing anchor in Praia, during the voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)