ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday held a phone call with President Masoud Barzani, discussing the latest developments in Syria, as a ceasefire announced earlier on Sunday takes hold.

The pair "reviewed the latest developments in Syria," Syrian state media reported, with President Barzani praising a Friday decree by Sharaa which that safeguards certain rights for Kurds in Syria.

The phone call came in a series of phone calls the Syrian president made with regional and global leaders, such as French President Emmanuel Macron and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, after he signed an ceasefire agreement with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), ending a recent surge in clashes between the two sides.

President Barzani on Saturday hosted a meeting of SDF Commander Mazloum Abdi and US Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack, as part of a string of critical meetings between officials from the Kurdistan Region, the US, and Rojava. A day after the meeting, Barrack met with Sharaa hours before the ceasefire's announcement later in the day.

Sunday's phone call marks the second one between Barzani and Sharaa. The pair discussed the clashes between Kurdish-led and Syrian state forces in Aleppo earlier in January, as the clashes escalated, where Barzani affirmed that Kurds and all other Syrian components must be guaranteed their rights.

Sunday's ceasefire puts an end to re-escalated hostilities between the two sides that restarted in eastern Aleppo on Saturday morning, after the Kurdish-led SDF accused Damascus forces of violating an internationally-sponsored agreement, that would see the Kurdish-led force withdraw from eastern Aleppo, by entering Deir Hafer and Maskanah before its fighters had completed their withdrawal. The Syrian army, meanwhile, accused the SDF of attacking its positions in the area.