Overview
- Damascus says its troops control Tabqa and the Euphrates dam and are nearing Raqqa, while the SDF reports continued clashes around al-Mansoura and disputes that Tabqa was covered by any withdrawal deal.
- State media reports the SDF blew up bridges toward Raqqa; the governorate of Deir Ezzor ordered public institutions shut and urged residents to stay home as fighting spread.
- The army announced it had taken 34 towns and villages including Deir Hafer, with AFP witnessing Kurdish fighters leaving and some displaced residents beginning to return.
- The SDF withdrew from eastern Deir Ezzor, including the al-Omar and al-Tanak oilfields, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, marking major resource losses for the Kurdish-led administration.
- U.S. envoy Tom Barrack met SDF chief Mazloum Abdi in Erbil as CENTCOM urged a halt to attacks and France called for immediate de‑escalation, while a new decree recognizing Kurdish language and cultural rights drew a lukewarm response from Kurdish authorities.