Syria
A car and motor bike drive along a road leading to-and-from the northern city of Raqqa on January 18, 2026. File photo: AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A medical convoy transporting wounded civilians from Raqqa to Hasaka in northeastern Syria (Rojava) was ambushed on Sunday evening, leaving several people dead and injured and one ambulance unaccounted for, a doctor in the convoy told Rudaw.
The attack came after the Syrian Arab Army and its allied factions launched operations in eastern areas of Syria administered by the Kurdish-led authorities.
Dr. Agid Oso, who was part of the convoy, said the attack took place at around 4:30 pm near the Sabah al-Khair point, about 50 kilometers from Hasaka, as they "were transporting the wounded from Raqqa."
According to Dr. Oso, the convoy was made up of 10 ambulances carrying between 20 and 25 wounded Kurds and Arabs, along with a number of Kurdish civilians from Raqqa and Tabqa who were traveling with them.
He said the attackers opened fire on the convoy, causing casualties among both patients and civilians. “Gunmen attacked us. Although we do not know exactly who they were, it is likely they are militants affiliated with the Syrian government or ISIS [Islamic State] sleeper cells present in the area,” he said, adding, “As a result of the attack, a number of civilians were wounded and some were killed, but we do not know the exact numbers.”
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) later arrived at the scene and secured the area, according to the doctor. He said the ambush forced the convoy to split into different routes.
“Due to the ambush, the convoy split up. Some of us changed our route toward Kobani, while others continued toward Hasaka,” Dr. Oso said.
He also expressed serious concern over one missing ambulance that lost contact after the attack. “We have lost contact with one of the ambulances. The driver was wounded and told us he could not continue; we do not know what has happened to it now, and it is missing,” he said.
Doctors who reached Kobani have begun treating the wounded at the city’s hospital, while those who arrived in Hasaka are also providing medical care there. Dr. Oso said the convoy included six doctors and around 15 nurses.
On Sunday night, Syria’s interim president signed a ceasefire agreement with SDF chief Mazloum Abdi.
The 14-point agreement, announced late Sunday, calls for the withdrawal of SDF forces from key provinces, including Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor, and for the integration of SDF fighters - on an “individual” basis and following security vetting - into Syria’s ministries of defense and interior. The deal also transfers control of oil and gas fields, border crossings, and major prisons holding ISIS suspects to the central government in Damascus.
The Kurdish-led SDF acts as the de facto military force in the region. Until Syria joined the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS in November, the SDF had been the coalition’s only on-the-ground partner, playing a central role in ISIS’s territorial defeat in Syria in 2019.
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