Kurdishled

Government source says recent Kurdish-led conference ‘dealt blow’ to talks on implementing a March integration deal.

Syria’s new government will not take part in planned meetings with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Paris, Syria’s state news agency has reported, as tensions mount between the two sides.

SANA’s report on Saturday cast doubt over an integration deal signed this year by the armed group and Syria’s interim government, which took over after the overthrow of longtime President Bashar al-Assad in December.

Quoting an unnamed government source, the news agency said the government wants future negotiations to be held in the Syrian capital, Damascus, “as it is the legitimate and national address for dialogue among Syrians”.

The SDF was the main force allied with the United States in Syria during fighting that defeated ISIL (ISIS) in 2019. In March, the SDF signed a deal with the new government to join Syria’s state institutions.

The deal aims to stitch back together a country fractured by 14 years of war, paving the way for Kurdish-led forces that hold a quarter of Syria and regional Kurdish governing bodies to integrate with Damascus.

However, the agreement did not specify how the SDF will be merged with Syria’s armed forces. The group has previously said its forces must join as a bloc while the government wants them to join as individuals.

Saturday’s report comes a day after the Kurdish administration held a conference involving several Syrian minority communities, the first such event since al-Assad’s removal from power.

The conference’s final statement called for “a democratic constitution that … establishes a decentralised state” and guarantees the participation of all components of Syrian society.

Damascus has previously rejected calls for decentralisation.

In its report on Saturday, SANA said the government “stresses that the SDF conference dealt a blow to the ongoing negotiation efforts” towards implementing the March agreement.

“Accordingly, the government will not participate in any meetings scheduled in Paris, nor will it sit at the negotiating table with any side seeking to revive the era of the deposed regime under any name or cover,” the report said.

Participants in the Kurdish-organised conference also criticised the government over sectarian clashes in Syria’s southern province of Suwayda and the coastal region.

“The current constitutional declaration does not meet the aspirations of the Syrian people. … It should be reviewed to ensure a wider participatory process and a fair representation in the transitional period,” the conference’s final statement read.

The dispute is the latest in a recent conflict between the Syrian administration and the SDF after clashes between the group and government forces this month.

The SDF on Saturday accused government-backed factions of attacking areas in northeastern Syria more than 22 times.

It said it had exercised restraint during such “aggressions” but the continuation of attacks “threatens mutual trust and undermines understandings”.

The Syrian Democratic Forces allege that Damascus-linked factions attacked four of its positions early on Monday.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have said that armed factions associated with the country’s security forces have attacked some of its positions in the northern province of Aleppo, as efforts by Syria’s fledgling government to unify the nation have been hit on several fronts.

In a post on X, the group, which controls much of northeastern Syria, claimed the incident took place early on Monday morning in the Deir Hafer area.

The allegation comes just months after the SDF and the Syrian interim government signed a landmark integration agreement in March.

Government-linked factions launched an assault on four of the SDF’s positions in the village of Al-Imam at 3am on Monday morning, the SDF said, noting that the ensuing clashes lasted for 20 minutes.

“We hold the Damascus government fully responsible for this behaviour, and reaffirm that our forces are now more prepared than ever to exercise their legitimate right to respond with full force and determination,” the SDF added.

The latest incident came after the Syrian government accused the SDF of injuring four soldiers and three civilians in the northern city of Manbij on Saturday.

The Defence Ministry called the attack “irresponsible”, saying it had been carried out for “unknown reasons”, according to Syria’s state news agency SANA.

Meanwhile, the SDF, which allied with the United States to help defeat ISIL (ISIS) in the region, blamed the Syrian government, saying it had responded to an unprovoked artillery assault against civilians.

Such skirmishes have cast a shadow over the integration pact the SDF made with Damascus in March, following the fall of longtime President Bashar al-Assad in December.

As part of efforts to reunify the country after almost 14 years of ruinous war, which killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions, the agreement seeks to merge Kurdish-led military and civilian institutions with the state.

As well as its clashes with the SDF, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s new government is grappling with the fallout from sectarian violence that broke out on July 13 in the southern province of Suwayda between Bedouin and Druze groups, during which government troops were deployed to quell the fighting. The bloodshed worsened and Israel carried out strikes on Syrian troops, and also bombed the heart of the capital Damascus, under the pretext of protecting the Druze.

Despite the ongoing ceasefire there, four deaths were reported in the province over the weekend, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights saying that three of the victims were government soldiers and one was a local fighter. Syria’s state media reported on deaths among security forces.

The Syrian government said in a statement that gangs in the area had “resorted to violating the ceasefire agreement by launching treacherous attacks against internal security forces on several fronts”.

Defence Ministry accuses Kurdish-led SDF of injuring four army personnel and three civilians in rocket attack near Manbij.

Syria’s Ministry of Defence has accused the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) of carrying out a rocket attack on a military position in northern Syria, injuring four army personnel and three civilians.

In a statement carried by Syria’s official SANA news agency, the ministry said the military was able to repel the attack in the countryside of the city of Manbij.

“The army forces are working to deal with the sources of fire that targeted the civilian villages near the deployment lines,” the ministry said, adding in a later statement that the military was carrying out “precise strikes”.

But the United States-backed SDF said in a statement that it was responding to “an unprovoked artillery assault targeting civilian-populated areas with more than ten shells” from factions operating within Syrian government ranks.

The statement made no mention of casualties.

The incident comes after the SDF signed a deal in March with Syria’s new interim government to integrate into state institutions.

The SDF has controlled a semi-autonomous region in the northeastern part of the country since 2015, and the deal, if implemented, would bring that territory under the full control of Syria’s central government, led by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Al-Sharaa led the lightning rebel offensive that toppled longtime Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December last year.

Discussions over the integration of the SDF into the Syrian state had been ongoing since the fall of al-Assad, but were hampered by divides fostered over years of civil war.

The deal reached in March did not specify how the SDF would be merged with the Syrian armed forces.

The SDF has previously said its forces must join as a bloc, while Damascus wants them to join as individuals.

“While we reaffirm our commitment to respecting the current de-escalation arrangements, we call on the relevant authorities in the Syrian government to take responsibility and bring the undisciplined factions under their control,” the SDF said in its statement.