ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The Kurdish-led administration in north and east Syria (Rojava) on Saturday said the area faces the risk of “an existential war,” calling on all categories of people to arm, citing the Damascus-affiliated forces’ continued violation of deescalation agreements.

Clashes raged on between the Syrian Arab Army and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on late Saturday and early Sunday in flashpoint areas held by the Kurdish-led Syrian on the banks of the Euphrates River, despite SDF chief Mazloum Abdi announcing a day earlier that their forces would withdraw from eastern Aleppo in accordance with an internationally-brokered agreement and their commitment to the integration process.

In a statement on Sunday, Rojava’s Democratic Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria (DAANES) accused government-linked factions of attacking their forces on multiple fronts and insisting on “continuing the fighting and the military option,” despite the Kurdish-led forces’ efforts to find peaceful solutions.

“Therefore, we call on our people to be on high alert and to adopt the principle of self-defense as a foundation, to stand alongside their military forces, to protect their cities, and to engage in the battle to protect dignity,” said the administration.

The Rojava administration said that the continued attacks by Damascus aim to “incite strife and violence between the components of northern and eastern Syria, to target the authentic components of Syria, and to impose one color on the other spectrums.”

“We are at a critical juncture: either we resist and live with our dignity, or we are subjected to all forms of injustice and humiliation.”

DAANES called on the people of Rojava to respond to the general mobilization call, and also urged “all segments of our people, especially young men and women, to arm themselves and prepare to confront any potential attack in the Jazira and Kobani regions.”

“We must know that we are facing an existential war, and to preserve the gains of our revolution and our identity, there is only one option: the option of popular resistance.”

Tensions have escalated between Kurdish-led forces and Damascus-affiliated factions in Syria since the start of the year. A conflict in Aleppo’s Kurdish-majority neighborhoods earlier in January saw hundreds of civilians killed and over 150,000 displaced.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday called for an immediate stop to Damascus’ offensive on Kurdish forces, noting that France and Europe cannot “support the continuation of such an approach.”

The SDF, Rojava’s de facto army, has been a key ally of the West in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS), playing an essential role in the terror group’s territorial defeat in Syria in 2019.

“A united and stable Syria requires the integration of the Syrian Democratic Forces into its ranks, not war against those who fought ISIS alongside us,” said Macron.