Military tensions between Syria and the Kurdish SDF continue to grow in the eastern part of the Aleppo Governorate. Both sides have reported deaths as a result of attacks by the other side in the past 48 hours.
On Wednesday, the SDF reported that one of their fighters was killed in a drone strike on their position in Deir Hafer, and sources reported that they abandoned some of their outposts in eastern Aleppo. Today, the Syrian state media reported that two of their fighters were killed by the SDF while operating near Deir Hafer.
This follows an incident over the weekend where seven civilians were killed in an attack on a village in the area. Both sides claimed that the other side was responsible for the attack on what was, at the time, an SDF-controlled village.
Syria and the SDF had a deal in principle, initially reached in February and formally agreed to on March 10, for the SDF to integrate with the Syrian military. Recent clashes and the Syrian government’s pushes for centralization, opposed by the Kurds, have stalled the integration.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has been meeting with Turkish President Erdogan to discuss the details of the implementation of March 10, with Erdogan pushing for all obstacles to be removed to finalize the move. The Kurds were not consulted on the matter.
Turkey has said all along they don’t really like the integration idea, but they would allow it to continue. The Turkish Defense Ministry issued a new statement today saying the recent fighting by the “SDF terrorist organization” violates the March 10 agreement, though it doesn’t appear it actually does in any way.
Turkey retains ground troops inside Syria, and the defense ministry said last week that they won’t withdraw until they believe the terror concerns are resolved. Though Syria is also contending with ISIS right now, and their own government’s faction is made up in no small part of former al-Qaeda-linked factions, Turkish comments about terrorism in Syria generally mean Kurds.
