Kurdish forces have ceded swathes of territory to advancing government troops in recent weeks following months of tension and sporadic clashes as Syria’s new authorities have sought to impose their authority across the country.
“A convoy of internal security forces began entering the city of Qamishli,” the official SANA news agency said. An AFP correspondent saw a convoy of vehicles, including armoured personnel, carriers enter the city, which has been the main stronghold of the Kurds’ de facto autonomous administration.
As forces set up checkpoints at its entrances, another correspondent reported, few people on the streets inside the city amid a curfew in place until Wednesday morning, with Kurdish security forces also lightly deployed and Kurdish flags and banners raised.