Despite the ongoing integration deal between the Kurdish SDF and the Islamist HTS-dominated government, government forces attacked SDF positions in the Aleppo Governorate today, sparking a number of substantial battles.
Government-linked forces attacked SDF positions in the village of al-Imam before dawn on Monday morning, and the clashes raged for 20 minutes. There had been fights reported over the weekend in and around Manbij, with the government claiming Kurds injured four soldiers and three civilians.
The Defense Ministry condemned the Manbij incident as “irresponsible” and claimed the Kurds attacked them “for unknown reasons.” The SDF, by contrast, said they were attacked by artillery first and were only responding, adding that they held the government fully responsible for the fighting today in al-Imam and elsewhere.
The two sides reached an integration deal back in March, though details were still to be worked out. In talks last week, the SDF rejected US demands for immediate disarmament, insisting it should go through the process.
US envoy Tom Barrack has criticized the SDF, which was historically a major US ally, for not integrating faster, saying that “federalism doesn’t work” and praised the HTS for being willing integrate them in the first place.
Barrack’s position remains inconsistent, however, as last week he spun the SDF rejection of a call for disarmament as a commitment to integrate. Following the Manbij fighting he called the news “disturbing” but also bragged of having helped negotiate the integration deal that’s clearly not going particularly well in the first place.
