SDF, Syrian Government Forces Face Off in Aleppo Clashes

Armed clashes erupted early in the morning on 4 August between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Syrian government forces near the town of Deir Hafer in northern Syria.

The US-backed SDF issued a statement saying that factions affiliated with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s government “launched an attack on four of our positions” in the town in Aleppo Governorate.

“Our forces confronted the attack and responded as necessary in defense of our positions and fighters. Clashes ensued and continued for 20 uninterrupted minutes.”

The SDF said Sharaa’s government was “fully responsible” for the attack while adding it reserves the right to respond “with full force and determination.”

On Sunday, Syria’s Defense Ministry accused the SDF of launching a barrage of rockets on an army outpost in the Manbij countryside in northern Syria, injuring four troops and three civilians. The ministry described the attack as irresponsible and without justification.

The SDF said they were responding to “an unprovoked artillery assault targeting civilian-populated areas with more than 10 shells” from factions affiliated with the Syrian government.

President Sharaa, the former ISIS commander who went by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Julani, claims he does not control extremist armed Sunni factions throughout the country, including when they massacred at least 1,600 Alawites on the Syrian coast in March. However, he has previously said all armed factions have been incorporated into the Ministry of Defense and General Security, implying they are indeed under his control.

Sunni armed factions in northern Syria enjoy support from Turkiye, which says the SDF is an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Turkiye claims the PKK is a terrorist group and has used its presence in northern Syria and northern Iraq to establish buffer zones and military bases in both countries.

The SDF is under pressure to surrender its arms and disband its armed fighting forces as part of a deal signed by Syrian President Sharaa and SDF chief Mazloum Abdi in March.

Damascus wants SDF fighters to join the Syrian army as individuals. Abdi is demanding that SDF fighters be incorporated as intact units under SDF command.

Syria’s Kurds are reluctant to give up their arms, in part because they fear the government will carry out massacres against them – like those committed against the Alawites on the Syrian coast in March, and against Druze civilians in Suwayda in July.

Syrian government forces and allied Bedouin militants continue to lay siege to Suwayda, whose Druze residents are running low on food, water, and medicine, amid ongoing clashes.

The SDF also wants to maintain its control over the revenue from Syria’s oil fields, which they occupied with the help of US forces during the war to topple the government of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.