The implementation of a March deal to merge the Kurds’ semi-autonomous administration and military into Syria’s new Islamist government has stalled, and tensions occasionally erupt into clashes, particularly in Aleppo, which has two Kurdish-majority neighbourhoods.
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Turkey, a close ally of Syria’s new authorities and which sees Kurdish forces on its border as a security threat, demanded Tuesday that all Kurdish armed groups — “including in Syria” — lay down their weapons.
The violence is among the deadliest between the government and Kurdish forces since the toppling of Bashar al-Assad more than a year ago, and adds to concerns about progress on the integration deal.
On Tuesday morning, the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said in a statement that groups affiliated with the government “targeted the Sheikh Maqsud neighbourhood”, killing one person.
It later said the toll had risen to three civilians including two women in “indiscriminate artillery and missile shelling” on the Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafiyeh districts, also noting “the use of drones… direct sniper fire and heavy-weapon fire”.
– Stalled integration –
Aleppo’s Kurdish-majority Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafiyeh neighbourhoods have remained under the control of Kurdish units linked to the SDF, despite Kurdish fighters agreeing to withdraw from the areas in April.
In a statement carried by state news agency SANA, the defence ministry said the SDF targeted “a number of neighbourhoods in Aleppo city adjacent to the districts it controls”.
It reported “three dead and more than 12 wounded among civilians”, as well as one killed in an attack on an army position.
The agriculture ministry said two workers at a research centre were among the dead, while Aleppo provincial authorities said an SDF shell hit the main gate of a hospital in the Bustan al-Basha district.
“The SDF is again proving that it does not recognise the March 10 agreement and is trying to undermine it,” the defence ministry statement said.
The SDF controls large swathes of Syria’s oil-rich north and northeast, and with the support of a US-led international coalition, was integral to the territorial defeat of the Islamic State group in Syria in 2019.
Its integration into the state following Assad’s ouster has proven complicated, and the original March agreement was supposed to be implemented by the end of 2025.
– ‘Lay down their weapons’ –
In Ankara, Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler said “the PKK (the Kurdistan Workers’ Party) and all affiliated groups must immediately cease all terrorist activity in regions where they are present, including in Syria, and lay down their weapons without condition”.
The SDF is dominated by the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish militant group seen by Ankara as an extension of the PKK, which earlier this year agreed to end its four-decade armed struggle against Turkey.
“We will not allow any terrorist organisation — particularly the PKK, the PYD, the YPG, and the SDF — to establish a foothold in the region,” Guler added.
Turkey, which shares a 900-kilometre (550-mile) border with Syria, has launched successive offensives to push Kurdish forces from its frontier.
Also Tuesday, the SDF accused factions affiliated with Syria’s army of attacking Deir Hafer, around 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of Aleppo, and near the strategic Tishreen Dam to the city’s northeast.
The Kurdish-led force affirmed its right to “respond legitimately to these attacks”.
On Sunday, SDF chief Mazloum Abdi held further talks with officials in Damascus on integrating the Kurdish-led forces, but state media said no tangible results were achieved.
The Kurds have repeated calls for decentralisation — which Syria’s new Islamist authorities have rejected.
Last month in Aleppo, clashes killed five people after Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan urged the SDF not to be an obstacle to Syria’s stability.