Group protests in front of US Consulate in northern Iraq over Syria operations

ERBIL, Iraq

A group gathered in front of the US Consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil on Monday evening to protest Washington not intervening in Syrian Army operations targeting the terrorist organization YPG/SDF.

Some demonstrators were carrying posters of YPG/SDF head Mazloum Abdi -- whose real name is Ferhad Abdi Sahin -- during the protest outside the consulate.

Chanting slogans against the Syrian government, the group called on the US to intervene in the operations carried out by the Syrian Army.

Tensions rose when some protesters climbed onto security booths belonging to the consulate. Security forces of the northern Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) -- which Erbil is the capital of -- deployed reinforcements to the area and dispersed the crowd.

On Sunday evening, Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa announced a ceasefire and an agreement for full integration of the SDF into state institutions.

Under the deal, the SDF will withdraw its military formations east of the Euphrates River and hand over administrative and security control of the Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor provinces to the Syrian state.

The agreement also provides for the integration of SDF military and security personnel into the Syrian Defense and Interior ministries following individual security vetting, as well as the transfer of border crossings, oil and gas fields, and civilian institutions to government control.

The announcement followed a military operation launched by the Syrian Army, through which it regained wide areas in eastern and northeastern Syria after repeated violations by the SDF of earlier agreements signed with Damascus nearly a year ago.