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Syria Accuses Kurds of Breaking Truce in Threat to Chances of Deal
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters walk near an armored vehicle, following clashes between SDF and Syrian government forces, in Hasakah, Syria, Jan. 20, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Orhan Qereman
Syria‘s government said a drone strike by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces killed seven of its soldiers on Wednesday, though the SDF denied this, in an incident that threatens to derail a ceasefire after days of fighting in the northeast.
The Syrian army called the attack, which it said took place as soldiers were securing a captured military base containing explosives, a dangerous escalation.
The SDF, previously the main US ally in Syria, said it had not carried out a strike and that the blast had occurred when Syrian soldiers were moving explosives. It accused the Syrian army of violating the truce with attacks in several locations.
After days of rapid gains, the government on Tuesday said it had reached an understanding with the SDF for it to agree a plan over a four-day ceasefire to integrate into the central state, and that otherwise the SDF would face an assault on the two last main cities it holds.
FOUR-DAY CEASEFIRE
The government advance against the SDF has put into doubt years of Kurdish de facto autonomy in the northeast and is significant for Syria‘s ties with the United States and Turkey, and for the fate of thousands of detained Islamist militants.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, a main ally of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, said on Wednesday that the SDF, which it regards as a terrorist group, must lay down arms and disband now to avoid further bloodshed.
The US, which backed the SDF as its main ally in driving Islamic State terrorists from swathes of Syria in bloody fighting a decade ago, did not stand in the way of the offensive and on Tuesday urged the group to accept the government’s offer.
The US said the reasons for its partnership with the SDF had expired, but that it was still concerned about the fate of thousands of detained Islamic State terrorists and civilians associated with them in facilities guarded by the SDF.
It added on Wednesday that its forces had launched a mission in Syria to transfer Islamic State prisoners to Iraq.
The SDF said on Tuesday it accepted the ceasefire and that it would not engage in any military action unless attacked. SDF leader Mazloum Abdi had earlier said it regarded the protection of Kurdish majority areas as a “red line.”
Wedged into a triangle between the Turkish and Iraqi borders, northeast Syria has areas with both Arab and Kurdish majorities and contains most of Syria‘s energy reserves.
Syrian troops were still positioned outside the last main Kurdish-held cities in the northeast, Hasakah and Qamishli, on Wednesday, Reuters reporters in the area said.
They had brought significant reinforcements the previous evening, with convoys of tanks and other military vehicles, as well as buses packed with fighters, arriving late into the night.
The troops had frozen their advance after Sharaa’s new ceasefire announcement the previous evening, and were waiting for further orders that would be shaped by the SDF’s reply to Sharaa’s proposal.
RELATIONS WITH TURKEY, US
The strategic picture in Syria has changed entirely over the past 13 months since rebels under former al Qaeda commander Sharaa ousted Iran-backed president Bashar al-Assad in a lightning advance that stunned the region.
The SDF, which had at times fought Sharaa’s rebels during Syria‘s civil war, had controlled around a quarter of Syria where it maintained autonomous rule from Assad in Damascus.
The US maintained a small military presence in the area and helped the SDF fend off attacks by Assad and allied forces. However, Sharaa has developed good ties with Washington, changing its relationship with the Damascus authorities.
Turkey, which regards the SDF as affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) that has waged a decades-long insurgency inside Turkey, had a military presence in other parts of northern Syria in support of rebel groups there.
Ankara and the PKK are now engaged in a peace process and Turkey regards the end of SDF control in Syria as a vital part of that.
Speaking to parliament on Wednesday, Erdogan welcomed the declared ceasefire in Syria, saying he hoped the group’s “full integration” into the Syrian state would herald a new era in Syria.
Erdogan and Trump discussed Syria in a phone call overnight, touching on the situation of prisoners in Syrian jails and the continued fight against Islamic State.
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UK PM Starmer Says There Could Be New Powers to Ban Pro-Palestinian Marches
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer gives a media statement at Downing Street in London, Britain, April 30, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Jack Taylor/File photo
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the government could ban pro-Palestinian marches in some circumstances because of the “cumulative effect” the demonstrations had on the Jewish community after two Jewish men were stabbed in London on Wednesday.
Starmer told the BBC that he would always defend freedom of expression and peaceful protest, but chants like “Globalize the Intifada” during demonstrations were “completely off limits” and those voicing them should be prosecuted.
Pro-Palestinian marches have become a regular feature in London since the October 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel that triggered the Gaza war. Critics say the demonstrations have generated hostility and become a focus for antisemitism.
Protesters have argued they are exercising their democratic right to spotlight ongoing human rights and political issues related to the situation in Gaza.
Starmer said he was not denying there were “very strong legitimate views about the Middle East, about Gaza,” but many people in the Jewish community had told him they were concerned about the repeat nature of the marches.
Asked if the tougher response should focus on chants and banners, or whether the protests should be stopped altogether, Starmer said: “I think certainly the first, and I think there are instances for the latter.”
“I think it’s time to look across the board at protests and the cumulative effect,” he said, adding that the government needed to look at what further powers it could take.
Britain raised its terrorism threat level to “severe” on Thursday amid mounting security concerns that foreign states were helping fuel violence, including against the Jewish community.
“We are seeing an elevated threat to Jewish and Israeli individuals and institutions in the UK,” the head of counter-terrorism policing, Laurence Taylor, said in a statement, adding that police were also working “against an unpredictable global situation that has consequences closer to home, including physical threats by state-linked actors.”
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War Likely to Resume After Trump’s Rejection of Latest Proposal, Says IRGC General
Iranians carry a model of a missile during a celebration following an IRGC attack on Israel, in Tehran, Iran, April 15, 2024. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
i24 News – A senior Iranian military figure said that fighting with the US was “likely” to resume after President Donald Trump stated he was dissatisfied with Tehran’s latest proposal, regime media reported on Saturday.
The comments of General Mohammad Jafar Asadi, one of the top Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commanders, were relayed by the Fars news agency, considered as a mouthpiece of the the powerful paramilitary body.
“Evidence has shown that the Americans do not not adhere to any commitments,” Asadi was quoted as saying.
He further added that Washington’s decision-making was “primarily media-driven aimed first at preventing a drop in oil prices and second at extricating themselves from the mess they have created.”
Iranian armed forces are ready “for any new adventures or foolishness from the Americans,” he said, going to assert that the Iran war would prove for the US a tragedy comparable with what was for Israel the October 7 massacre.
“Just as our martyred Leader said that the Zionist regime will never be the same as before the Al‑Aqsa Storm operation [the name chosen by Hamas leadership for the October 7, 2023 massacre in southern Israel], the United States will also never return to what it was before its attack on Iran,” he said. “The world has understood the true nature of America, and no matter how much malice it shows now, it is no longer the America that many once feared.”
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Trump Says US Navy Acting ‘Like Pirates’ to Carry Out Naval Blockade of Iranian Ports
A view of Iranian-flagged cargo ship M/V Touska as the US Navy Arleigh Burke-class Aegis guided missile destroyer USS Spruance conducts its interception in a location given as the north Arabian Sea, in this screen capture from a video released April 19, 2026. Photo: CENTCOM/Handout via REUTERS
President Donald Trump said on Friday the US Navy was acting “like pirates” in carrying out Washington’s naval blockade of Iranian ports during the US and Israel’s war against Iran.
Trump made the comments while describing the seizure by US forces of a ship a few days ago.
“We took over the ship, we took over the cargo, we took over the oil. It’s a very profitable business,” Trump said in remarks on Friday evening. “We’re like pirates. We’re sort of like pirates but we are not playing games.”
Some of Tehran’s vessels have been seized by the US after leaving Iranian ports, along with sanctioned container ships and Iranian tankers in Asian waters.
Iran has blocked nearly all ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz apart from its own since the start of the war. Trump has imposed a separate blockade of Iranian ports.
The US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28. Iran responded with its own strikes on Israel and Gulf states that host US bases. US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed thousands and displaced millions.
The war has raised oil prices and led to the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for about 20 percent of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments.
Trump, who has offered shifting timelines and goals for the war that remains unpopular in the US, has faced widespread condemnation over his comments on the conflict, including when he threatened to destroy Iran’s entire civilization last month.
Many US experts said last month that American strikes on Iran may amount to war crimes after Trump threatened to target civilian infrastructure.