Tensions between the Syrian government and the Kurdish SDF continue to stall efforts to unify their military forces as for the second time this week there was reportedly a clash between the two sides, this time in Deir Ezzor Governorate.
The SDF reported that on Sunday morning, forces affiliated with the government attacked their positions near the town of Darnaj. Though they didn’t identify the group that carried out the attack, the SDF said they hold the government fully responsible for the incident.
This was the second confirmed clash between the two sides in the past week. On Wednesday, the SDF and government forces traded shelling in the Aleppo Governorate, leaving two civilians killed and three wounded on the outskirts of Maskanah.
The ongoing fighting points to growing doubts about the planned integration of the SDF into the Syrian military. Integration was agreed to in principle way back in February, though little progress has been made since then, as it involves not just integrating the SDF fighters, but bringing the Kurdish controlled northeast under central government control.
Cracks were already showing up in the plan by the end of March, when the ruling Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) unveiled a new “inclusive” cabinet that totally excluded the Kurds, and by August the HTS had also postponed voting in Kurdish parts of the country, suggesting they’ll have little to no parliamentary representation.
This is leading the Kurds to think twice about disarming the SDF, though US officials are excoriating them for delaying the matter. The SDF held integration talks last month to discuss the problems, though the HTS refused to attend.
In practice, the agreement to integrate didn’t have a timeline and was only meant to be an in-principle agreement pending working out specifics. Little has been done to that end, though and in recent talks, Syrian FM Asaad al-Shibani was said to refuse to discuss anything except for disbanding the SDF outright. President Ahmed al-Sharaa has also spoken out against the idea of any level of autonomy, calling it tantamount to partition.
That has led to reports that the HTS intends to mass large numbers of troops at Palmyra to launch a full-scale offensive against the Kurdish northeast to try to unify the country. Such an offensive was reported to be planned for October, though little has been confirmed.
Between being shut out of the political scene and rumors of an invasion, this is not a time many in the SDF would be looking to disarm or integrate with the HTS, even if there wasn’t some active fighting along the frontier. With the fighting as well, the process is likely to be stalled yet further.
