Fresh off a new 15-day extension of the ceasefire between the two sides, the Syrian Army and the Kurdish SDF are continuing to fight in several areas across the country, and as has been the case for weeks the only thing the two sides can agree on is that the other side started it.
The Army has presented the Kurds as having launched dozens of armed drone strikes against them in the Aleppo Governorate. They claimed explosive suicide drones were used and destroyed at least four army vehicles.
They also claimed the SDF shelled the highway between Aleppo and the coastal city of Latakia, wounding a number of civilians, though this seems to be unlikely given the SDF having withdrawn east out of Aleppo and that highway tracks west out of the city. There were also claims of the SDF attacking civilian homes south of Kobane, and attacking targets in Hasakeh Governorate.
Kurdish SDF forces in al-Hasakeh | Image from SOHR
The SDF, for their part, claimed the army was attacking sites around Kobane, and that violent clashes were ongoing in parts of the Kurdish-majority city. They further claimed Turkey was deploying its own forces into the area to support the Syrian military.
Kobane is still under an effective state of siege, fighting on the outskirts continuing with a humanitarian corridor opened but the city also surrounded by military assets, and many civilians trying to flee elsewhere believing an outright invasion is inevitable. A UN aid convoy has been dispatched to help civilians still stuck inside Kobane.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has continued to play up the idea that he is supporting “unity” within the country, and emphasizing a private meeting held with Kurdish residents of Kobane in which he promised respect to Kurdish rights.
The meeting was actually not happening now, however, but was held last week during one of the previous unsuccessful ceasefires. This assurance that Kurdish rights will be respected in Kobane, rather, is coming just as the military is shelling the Kurdish city, having declared it a closed military zone.
The US has been closely allied with the SDF for years, in fighting against ISIS, but has recently aligned itself with Sharaa and ended all military support for the Kurds. Former US Special Envoy to the region, James Jeffrey, defended the shift, saying on Voice of America that the alliance with the Kurds was always intended to be a “temporary and tactical” deal for fighting ISIS, and that the US had never actually committed to defending the Kurds as such, therefore withdrawing support wasn’t a betrayal.
