Syria's largest oil field seized by government forces as Kurdish-led SDF loses ground—key updates

Syrian forces on Sunday captured the al-Omar oil field, the country's largest, as fighting intensified between the military and the Kurdish-led and US-backed Syrian Defence Forces (SDF).

With its latest push, Syria's military has seized large swaths of land in the country's north, dislodging the SDF from territories over which the Kurdish-led forces had autonomy for over a decade.

- The Conoco gasfield, too, has been taken over by government forces in the Deir Az Zor area.

- Fighting, meanwhile, continues to rage across the country, with Syrian news agency SANA reporting the destruction of two bridges on the Euphrates River leading to the city of Raqqa, which is under siege by the military.

- Tabqah, a stronghold city some 55 kilometres west of Raqqa has also fallen to the Syrian military, with Information Minister Hamza Almustafa saying, "The Syrian army controls the strategic city of Tabqa in the Raqqa countryside, including the Euphrates Dam, which is the largest dam in Syria."

- With Raqqa under siege, Al Jazeera reported that the Syrian military's rapid advance has also resulted in the SDF losing key areas of the Raqqa governorate.

- The Syrian military is reportedly using a pincer strategy, moving east and south of SDF lines and trying to push the Kurdish-led forces further and further north towards the border with Turkey.

- With the Kurdish-led forces losing ground fast, the president of Iraq's autonomous northern Kurdish region has held a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, who, in turn, has called for de-escalation in Syria and a "permanent ceasefire".

However, despite the deal, the agreement has still not been enacted and both sides have been accusing each other of failing to meet promises.

Deadly clashes erupted in Syria last week between the SDF militia and government forces, with the US urging both sides to avoid a confrontation.

Subsequently, on Friday, al-Sharaa, issued a decree, marking the first formal recognition of Kurdish rights in Syria since the country's independence in 1946.

The decree made Kurdish a national language and granted nationality to all Kurds within Syria's borders, who constituted around 10% of the country's population as of 2011.

The decree, which was acknowledged by Kurdish authorities as a "first step" towards the integration of Kurds into Syrian institutions, prompted the SDF to announce withdrawal from certain parts in the country's north.

However, fighting broke out after the SDF accused Damascus of violating recent agreements and entering SDF territory before the withdrawal of Kurdish forces.