Erbil, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday called for Damascus's offensive against Kurdish-led forces to "cease immediately," adding that France and Europe "cannot support the continuation of such an approach."

"The Syrian authorities' offensive must cease immediately. France and Europe cannot support the continuation of such an approach," Macron wrote on X.

Kurdish-led and Damascus-affiliated forces have clashed several times since the year started with the worst being in Aleppo’s Kurdish-majority neighborhoods earlier in January that saw hundreds of civilians killed and over 150,000 displaced. The fighting has now erupted in Raqqa, the former de facto capital of ISIS in Syria.

The fighting has spilled over to Raqqa despite SDF chief Mazloum Abdi announcing late Friday that they decided to withdraw from areas in eastern Aleppo, where clashes with Damascus-linked factions frequently took place, in a show of “good faith” in completing the integration process in accordance with a March 10 Agreement to integrate the Kurdish-led force with Syria's state security apparatus.

"A comprehensive agreement is possible. The presidential decree on Kurdish rights enacted yesterday is a step in the right direction," Macron said, referencing a Friday presidential decree by his Syrian counterpart Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Sharaa’s decree includes provisions recognizing Kurdish cultural and linguistic rights, designating Kurdish as a national language that may be taught in public and private schools in Kurdish-populated areas, abolishing the effects of the controversial 1962 census in Hasakah province, and granting Syrian nationality to previously stateless Kurds. It also declares March 21, the Kurdish New Year of Newroz, a nationwide paid public holiday.

The French President's statement came on the same day that Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) chief Mazloum Abdi and US Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack arrived in Erbil, where they met top Kurdistan Region leaders to discuss the situation in Syria.

"A united and stable Syria requires the integration of the Syrian Democratic Forces into its ranks, not war against those who fought [Islamic State] ISIS alongside us," the French leader added.

The Kurdish-led SDF has been a key ally of the west in the fight against the Islamic State, which took over large swathes of Syrian and Iraqi territories after their rise in 2014.