The Syrian Defense Ministry is reporting that the ceasefire reached earlier this week with the Kurdish SDF isn’t going very well, with fighting around the Tishrin Dam erupted just hours after the ceasefire went into effect.
A statement on Thursday claimed that the SDF attacked the military’s positions near Tishrin, killing one soldier and wounding several others. The ministry suggests that this was a totally unprovoked series of attacks by the SDF.
That story looks substantially different when the SDF tells it, however, as they claimed a group of government-backed militants had attempted to infiltrate the SDF’s position in the area, and failed, and that’s actually what led to the fight.
The SDF confirmed the clash that led to the death of one Syrian soldier, saying the SDF forces were engaged in self-defense and that the person they killed was one of the people trying to infiltrate their position. They added that the attacking forces fled and left their slain comrade behind.
The military and the SDF clashed on Monday in the Aleppo Governorate, which is what led to the quick negotiation of a ceasefire. Now, the fighting is still in that governorate, but centered more around Tishrin Dam.
Tishrin Dam has been an important source of fresh water and electricity for the Kurdish northeast of Syria, and earlier this year was the site of heavy fighting, when Turkey and their allies were trying to claim the dam from the SDF. Turkey has been supporting the military, and pressing them to “eliminate” the SDF all year, and while that was meant to be resolved through integration of the SDF into the military, increasingly it’s led to conflict.
