“All circulating reports about the withdrawal of Deir ez-Zor Military Council forces from the city of Deir ez-Zor are false. The forces continue to carry out their duties in safeguarding the region and its people,” the SDF said in a statement.
The statement came after Syrian rebels earlier on Sunday announced that they had taken over a city, days after the Kurdish-led force captured it amid a rebellion in the country.
Syria’s civil war dramatically reignited late last month when a coalition of rebels led by the Islamist Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched a blistering offensive against the Syrian army. They quickly took control of the northern city of Aleppo, the largest in the country, and then advanced to capture the strategic central province of Hama.
Their blitz continued as they captured Homs, and culminated in the fall of Damascus as rebels said President Bashar al-Assad fled the country, ending over five decades of Baathist rule.
Kurds have greatly expanded the territory under their control to cover most of oil-rich Deir ez-Zor province in the east after Syrian government forces and their pro-Iran allies withdrew to redeploy in other areas where the regime is fighting rebels.
After taking over Damascus, HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani ordered his forces not to approach any official institutions in the capital and declared that these institutions will remain under the supervision of Assad’s Prime Minister Mohammed al-Jalali until their official handover.
On Sunday, the White House said that US President Joe Biden was following the “extraordinary” events in Syria.
"President Biden and his team are closely monitoring the extraordinary events in Syria and staying in constant touch with regional partners," National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said in a statement on X.
