DASMASCUS, Oct 07 (Reuters/AFP): Syrian Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra and SDF commander General Mazloum Abdi agreed on Tuesday to a comprehensive ceasefire on all fronts in north and northeastern Syria, the defence ministry said.
The truce is effective immediately, the ministry added.
Recent clashes between the two sides have cast a shadow over a landmark deal signed in March between the Kurdish-led SDF and Syria's new Islamist-led government to integrate the regional force into state institutions.
The deal aimed to help stitch together a country fractured by 14 years of civil war and pave the way for Kurdish-led forces that hold a quarter of Syria to merge with Damascus, along with regional Kurdish governing bodies.
A government source told AFP the meeting came after Sharaa met with Abdi, the first such encounter since July, and that the pair had discussed "security issues concerning the March 10 agreement".
US envoy for Syria Tom Barrack and Admiral Brad Cooper, head of the US military's Central Command, also attended, the source added, on condition of anonymity.
Barrack said Monday on X that he and Cooper had visited northeast Syria for "substantive conversations" with Abdi.
The Kurdish leader said they had discussed "issues aimed at supporting the political integration in Syria, preserving the country's territorial integrity, and creating a safe environment for all components of the Syrian people", as well as ensuring continued efforts to combat Islamic State group jihadists in the region.
Earlier Tuesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor and state media said clashes had halted in Aleppo.
At least one member of Syria's security forces and a civilian were killed in bombardment attributed to Kurdish forces that erupted late Monday in Aleppo's Kurdish-majority Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafiyeh neighbourhoods, Syrian state television reported.
"We are afraid and decided this morning to leave our home in Sheik Maqsud," retiree Sinan Rajab Basha, 67, told AFP by telephone.
"We saw a large number of families flee Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafiyeh," he said, adding that the entrances of the districts were blocked and residents who left were not allowed back in.
