The village of Umm Tineh in eastern Aleppo Governorate was attacked overnight, with at least seven civilians killed and four others wounded, according to media reports. Who actually did it though is a matter of substantial disagreement.
The village was hit in a drone strike, and then subsequently attacked by artillery. Syrian state media, quoting the Defense Ministry, is insisting it is the Kurdish SDF that attacked the SDF-controlled village for some unknown reason. The Defense Ministry also added it certainly wasn’t them that attacked the village.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the slain included five women and two children and that the attack was carried out by Syrian Army personnel.
The SDF, by contrast, said that village was attacked by pro-government forces that were “loyal to Turkey,” and accused the government of a cover-up as a “transparent attempt to escape responsibility for the crime.”
Adding to the tension is the area, Syrian President Ahmed Sharaa insisted over the weekend that it was possible Turkey would attack the SDF outright if they don’t fully integrate into the Syrian military by December.
Sharaa and his allies have been pushing the idea of full central control of all of Syria, and there a was deal back in February supporting the idea of integration, though details have yet to be worked out and Syria’s political exclusion of the Kurds has led to growing calls internally for them to retain a decentralized system with some measure of autonomy.
Sharaa has rejected the idea of autonomy, and the US has agreed, insisting “federalism doesn’t work.” Turkey has expressed skepticism about integrating the Kurds at all, and warned last week that they will only withdraw from Syrian territory if they are satisfied the “terrorism” threat is resolved. Turkey has long insisted the SDF are a “terrorist” group, and their heavy backing of Sharaa and his allies was conditioned heavily on preventing Kurdish autonomy in the northeast.
There have been clashes between the SDF and the Syrian military of late, and again both sides often blame one another for starting them. Given the tensions, the integration seems unlikely to progress by December, and the risk of larger-scale conflict is only growing.
