Syrian security forces continue to deploy in Kurdish areas under deal with SDF

QAMISHLI, Syria (AP) — Security forces affiliated with Syria’s Interior Ministry continued Tuesday to deploy in Kurdish-dominated areas in northeastern Syria as part of an agreement between Damascus and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

A convoy of security forces entered the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli, in the countryside of al-Hasakah province — where they entered on Monday.

Under the deal, small contingents of security forces reporting to the Interior Ministry will enter Kurdish-majority areas. Their mandate is limited to securing state-affiliated institutions, including civil registry offices, passport departments and the airport, and to restart work at those facilities.

Security was visibly tightened on Amuda Street, the main road leading into Qamishli, ahead of the deployment. Streets were largely empty since the SDF imposed a curfew, with shops shuttered and heavily armed SDF personnel and local Kurdish security forces spread across major roads and intersections.

Some fighters had their faces covered, and several women were among the forces deployed. Yellow flags of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units were seen alongside Kurdish flags lining closed storefronts.

“We are coordinating with the other side inside Qamishli for our forces to deploy inside the city,” said the spokesperson for the Syrian Interior Ministry, Nour al-Din al-Baba.

“There is a program and a time frame to finalize all of the deal’s clauses, among them is taking over the vital facilities, including the crossings, the Qamishli airport and oil facilities, managing them and making them operational in the service of the Syrian people,” he added.

Samer Ahmad, a member of the local Kurdish security forces, told the AP that Kurdish forces remain in control of security in the city as he held his rifle and monitored the situation in Qamishli.

“All necessary measures have been taken, and our forces are ready to confront sleeper cells and those seeking to carry out acts of sabotage,” Ahmad said.

“The incoming (government) forces will be deployed at four points in the city of Qamishli, and their presence here will be temporary. God willing, in the coming period, once integration is completed, they will withdraw,” he added.

Before arriving in Qamishli, convoys of security force vehicles bearing Syrian flags entered Tell Brak, east of Hasakah — a focal area between Qamishli and Hasakah — as crowds lined the roads, waving Syrian flags and cheering their arrival. People chanted through megaphones, “The Syrian people are one.”

Some men fired celebratory gunfire into the air while women ululated.

“We hope that the Arab Syrian army becomes the one in control, and we hope this happiness is spread across Syria, north to south to east to west,” said Adel al-Ahmad, who was among those welcoming the convoy.

He expressed contentment over what he described as “the liberation of Al-Hasakah from the SDF as well as Qamishli, where the SDF is still present, in addition to Al-Jawaliyeh and Kahtaniyeh and Al-Malikiyah.”

Arab residents in SDF‑controlled areas have long complained of political and economic marginalization, while many Kurdish communities fear reprisals from government‑affiliated fighters — concerns sharpened by the widespread sectarian killings and retaliatory attacks that erupted across Syria in 2025, especially in coastal and southern regions.

“We are happy with the entry of the internal security to Al-Hasakeh on the way to Qamishli,” said Wissam al-Motlak, another spectator.

Find more of AP’s Middle East coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/middle-east

Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) combatants, right, hold a Kurdish flag as they watch a convoy of Syria's Interior Ministry security forces deployed under an agreement aimed at stabilizing a ceasefire, in Qamishli, eastern Syria, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad)

Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) combatants secure the area for the arrival of Syria's Interior Ministry security forces, deployed under an agreement aimed at stabilizing a ceasefire, in Qamishli, eastern Syria, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad)

Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) combatants secure the area after the arrival of Syria's Interior Ministry security forces, deployed under an agreement aimed at stabilizing a ceasefire, in Qamishli, eastern Syria, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad)

Local residents, predominantly Arab, welcome a convoy of Syria's Interior Ministry forces as it passes through en route to the mostly Kurdish town of Qamishli, where the forces are deploying under a ceasefire agreement with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), near the village of Mazraat al-Nahar, northeastern Syria, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) combatants welcome the arrival of a convoy Syria's Interior Ministry security forces, deployed under an agreement aimed at stabilizing a ceasefire, in Qamishli, eastern Syria, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad)

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — With the deadline to file for reelection a little over a month away, two of Utah's Republican members of Congress are asking a federal court to block the use of new U.S. House districts that could significantly boost Democrats' chances of winning a Salt Lake City area seat in November.

A lawsuit filed late Monday by U.S. Reps. Celeste Maloy and Burgess Owens and nearly a dozen local officials contends a state judge violated the U.S. Constitution last year when she rejected congressional districts drawn by the Republican-led state Legislature and instead imposed an alternative map submitted by groups suing the Legislature.

The U.S. Constitution and Utah Constitution both give redistricting powers to the state Legislature, the lawsuit asserts, and “courts have no authority to draw a congressional map.” The lawsuit contends Utah's districts should revert to those last approved by the Legislature in 2021, unless lawmakers come up with new ones.

Utah is one of several states still locked in legal battles over House voting districts ahead of the midterm elections this fall.

A judge last month ordered a New York commission to redraw the only Republican-held U.S. House seat in New York City after ruling that the district unconstitutionally dilutes the votes of Black and Hispanic residents. Republicans quickly appealed.

The U.S. Supreme Court is considering an appeal of a Democratic-backed congressional redistricting plan approved by California voters. And Missouri courts are weighing a variety of legal challenges to a new U.S. House map passed by the state's Republican-led Legislature.

Redistricting took on an unusual urgency after President Donald Trump prodded Republicans in Texas to reconfigure their U.S. House districts last year to try to give the party an advantage in the midterm election. A mid-decade gerrymandering battle then erupted in several states and is continuing to play out this month in Democratic-led Maryland and Virginia.

Republicans currently hold all four of Utah's U.S. House seats based on districts drawn by state lawmakers after the 2020 census.

State Judge Dianna Gibson ruled in August that those districts violated standards approved by voters in 2018 to ensure districts don’t deliberately favor a party, a practice known as gerrymandering. In November, Gibson rejected a replacement map passed by the Legislature and instead imposed an alternative map submitted by the lawsuit's plaintiffs, the League of Women Voters of Utah and Mormon Women for Ethical Government.

The revised map keeps the Democratic stronghold of Salt Lake County almost entirely within one district, instead of dividing it among all four districts.

“The map currently in place is fair and legal," Katharine Biele, president of the League of Women Voters of Utah, said in response to the new federal lawsuit.

Meanwhile, the Legislature's attorneys have asked the state Supreme Court to overturn Gibson's ruling.

Over the weekend, Gov. Spencer Cox signed a bill expanding the high court from five justices to seven. New justices, who are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate, could be in place to help decide the fate of the congressional map. Cox has denied that the change is politically motivated.

Utah candidates typically must file for election by Jan. 8. But Utah lawmakers pushed back this year's filing deadline to March 13 for congressional candidates.

Neither Maloy nor Owens has yet filed for reelection, and “their districts have been shifted to a point where the Representatives do not know which district to choose,” their lawsuit states.

Republicans have also been collecting signatures to try to place on the November ballot an initiative that would repeal Utah's anti-gerrymandering standards.

Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Missouri.

FILE - Flags fly at the Utah State Capitol, Jan. 18, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Sydney Schaefer, File)