Syria accuses the Kurdish-led SDF of attacking the army, violating the agreement
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Syria’s government has blamed the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) for an attack it said killed 11 soldiers on Wednesday, but the SDF has disputed key elements of the account, blaming at least one deadly explosion on rockets fired by Syrian forces.
The incidents threaten to derail a four-day ceasefire announced on Tuesday after days of fighting in northeastern Syria, as Damascus pressures the SDF to agree to a plan to unify the central country.
The Syrian government said an SDF strike killed seven soldiers while defending a military camp that had been seized with explosives, calling the attack dangerous.
The SDF denied the strike.
The SDF, formerly the US’s ally in Syria, said the explosion occurred when the Syrian army was delivering explosives and accused the Syrian army of violating the agreement by attacking several areas.
Damascus later said 11 soldiers were killed and 25 wounded when the SDF attacked military facilities on the first day following the announcement of a ceasefire. The SDF did not comment on the broader case.
After days of rapid gains against the SDF, the government said on Tuesday it had reached an agreement with the Kurdish group on a four-day suspension to reunify the central region, and that otherwise the SDF would face attacks on the last two major cities it holds.
SDP must disarm, disband: Erdogan
The government’s advance against the SDF has thrown into doubt years of Kurdish de facto independence in the northeast and could affect Syria’s relations with the United States and Turkey and the fate of thousands of imprisoned Islamist militants.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is a close friend of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, said on Wednesday that the SDF, which they consider a terrorist group, must lay down their arms and disband to avoid further bloodshed.
The US, which has backed the SDF as its main partner in driving Islamic State militants from much of Syria in bloody battles over the past decade, has not stopped short of the offensive and on Tuesday urged the group to accept the government’s offer.
The US has said that the reasons for its cooperation with the SDF have expired, but remains concerned about the fate of thousands of Islamic State terrorists imprisoned and their civilians in facilities controlled by the SDF.
The US military said on Wednesday that its troops had begun an operation in Syria to transfer Islamic State prisoners to Iraq.
The SDF said on Tuesday it accepted the ceasefire and would not engage with the military unless attacked.
SDF leader Mazloum Abdi previously said he considers the protection of Kurdish-majority areas “a red line.”
Tucked into a triangle between the Turkish and Iraqi borders, northeastern Syria has predominantly Arab and Kurdish areas and contains most of Syria’s energy resources.
Syrian troops were standing outside the last major Kurdish-held cities in the northeast, Hasakah and Qamishli, on Wednesday, Reuters reporters in the area said.
Government forces brought in significant reinforcements last evening, with tanks and other military vehicles, as well as buses full of soldiers, arriving late into the night.
The army had halted its advance after Sharaa’s new cease-fire announcement and was awaiting further orders to be influenced by the SDF’s response to Sharaa’s proposal.
Changing the strategic image
The picture in Syria has changed completely in the last 13 months since rebels under former al-Qaeda commander Sharaa ousted the Iranian-backed president, Bashar al-Assad, in a surprise to the region.
The SDF, which had fought Sharaa rebels during the Syrian civil war, controlled a quarter of Syria where it maintained an independent rule from Assad in Damascus.
The US kept a small force in the area and helped the SDF fend off attacks by Assad and allied forces.
However, Sharaa has developed a good relationship with Washington, changing US relations with Damascus.
Turkey, which views the SDF as an ally of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) that has waged a decades-long insurgency inside Turkey, has had military forces in parts of northern Syria to support rebel groups there.
Ankara and the PKK are now involved in the peace process and Turkey sees the end of SDF control in Syria as an important part of that.
Speaking to parliament on Wednesday, Erdogan welcomed the announcement of a ceasefire in Syria, saying he hoped the party’s “complete integration” into the Syrian government would herald a new era in Syria.
Erdogan and Trump discussed Syria on the phone throughout the night, touching on the situation of prisoners in Syrian prisons and the continued fight against the Islamic State.
