DEIR HAFER: Syria&#39;s army took control of swathes of the country&#39;s north on Saturday, dislodging Kurdish forces from territory over which they held effective autonomy for over a decade.&nbsp;The government appeared to be seeking to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/nine-dead-in-clashes-between-syrian-govt-kurdish-forces-in-aleppo" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">extend</a>&nbsp;its grip on parts of the country under Kurdish control a day after President Ahmed al-Sharaa issued a decree declaring Kurdish a &quot;national language&quot; and granting the minority official recognition.&nbsp;The Kurds have said the move fell short of their aspirations.&nbsp;The army drove Kurdish forces from two Aleppo neighborhoods last week and took control of an area east of the city on Saturday, after implementation stalled on a March deal that was supposed to see Kurdish forces integrated into the state.&nbsp;Later on, Saturday, the Syrian army said it had &quot;begun entering the city of Tabqa via various axes, in parallel with encircling the PKK terrorist militias inside Tabqa military airport&quot;, according to the official SANA news agency.&nbsp;Authorities had earlier announced they had seized two oil fields near the city of Tabqa in Raqa province.&nbsp;An AFP correspondent in Deir Hafer, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Aleppo city, saw several fighters from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) leaving the town and residents returning under heavy army presence.&nbsp;Syria&#39;s army said four soldiers had been killed, while Kurdish forces reported several fighter&rsquo;s dead, as both sides traded blame for violating the withdrawal deal.&nbsp;Kurdish authorities ordered a curfew in the Raqa region after the army designated a swathe of territory southwest of the Euphrates River a &quot;closed military zone&quot; and warned it would target what it said were several military sites.&nbsp;BetrayedSDF chief Mazloum Abdi on Friday had committed to redeploying his forces from outside Aleppo to east of the Euphrates.&nbsp;But the SDF said Saturday that Damascus &quot;violated the recent agreements and betrayed our forces during the implementation of the withdrawal provisions&quot;.&nbsp;It said Kurdish forces were clashing with troops in an area south of Tabqa, &quot;which was outside the scope of the agreement&quot;.&nbsp;The army meanwhile urged the SDF leadership to &quot;immediately fulfil its announced commitments and fully withdraw to the east of the Euphrates River&quot;.&nbsp;The SDF controls swathes of Syria&#39;s oil-rich north and northeast, much of which it captured during the country&#39;s civil war and the fight against the Islamic State group over the past decade.&nbsp;US envoy Tom Barrack met Syrian Kurdish leader Abdi in Erbil on Saturday, the presidency of Iraq&#39;s autonomous Kurdistan region said in a statement.&nbsp;The United States for years has supported the Kurds but also backs Syria&#39;s new authorities.&nbsp;The US Central Command on Saturday urged &quot;Syrian government forces to cease any offensive actions in the areas between Aleppo and al-Tabqa&quot;, in a post on X.&nbsp;France&#39;s President Emmanuel Macron and the president of Iraqi Kurdistan, Nechirvan Barzani, called for deescalation and a ceasefire, the French presidency said.&nbsp;Presidential decreeSharaa&#39;s announcement on Friday was the first formal recognition of Kurdish rights since Syria&#39;s independence in 1946.&nbsp;The decree stated that Kurds are &quot;an essential and integral part&quot; of Syria, where they have suffered decades of marginalization and oppression under former rulers.&nbsp;It made Kurdish a &quot;national language&quot; and granted nationality to all Kurds, 20 percent of whom had been stripped of it under a controversial 1962 census.&nbsp;The Kurdish administration in Syria&#39;s northeast said the decree was &quot;a first step&quot; but &quot;does not satisfy the aspirations and hopes of the Syrian people&quot;.&nbsp;&quot;Rights are not protected by temporary decrees, but... through permanent constitutions that express the will of the people and all components&quot; of society, it said in a statement.&nbsp;In Qamishli, the main Kurdish city in the country&#39;s northeast, Shebal Ali, 35, told AFP that &quot;we want constitutional recognition of the Kurdish people&#39;s rights&quot;.&nbsp;Yara, 42, a Kurdish artist in Damascus who declined to provide her full name, said the government needed to &quot;provide guarantees to earn the Kurds&#39; confidence&quot;.&nbsp;Nanar Hawach, senior Syria analyst at the International Crisis Group, told AFP that the decree &quot;offers cultural concessions while consolidating military control&quot;.&nbsp;&quot;It does not address the northeast&#39;s calls for self-governance,&quot; he told AFP, adding that &quot;Sharaa is comfortable granting cultural rights, but draws the line at power-sharing&quot;.&nbsp;He said Damascus appeared to be seeking &quot;to drive a wedge between Kurdish civilians and the armed forces that have governed them for a decade&quot;.

Middle East

Syria’s army expanded control over northern areas, clashing with Kurdish forces despite a decree recognizing Kurdish rights. Kurds decry betrayal, demand constitutional guarantees, while international actors call for de-escalation and ceasefire.

Syria army extends control over north as Kurds report clashes

DAMASCUS: Clashes between government troops and Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria&rsquo;s Aleppo killed at least nine people on Tuesday, mostly civilians, in one of the worst flare-ups between the sides in months. The implementation of a March deal to merge the Kurds&rsquo; semi-autonomous administration and military into Syria&rsquo;s new government has largely stalled.<div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-1" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 552px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-1&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=2008632287907270862&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Fdashboard%2F&sessionId=1f47463563661dc86ac6b6e51315a5a78e9350ca&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px" data-tweet-id="2008632287907270862"></iframe></div></div>Tensions have occasionally erupted into clashes, particularly in Aleppo, which has two Kurdish-majority neighborhoods. Deadliest violenceBoth sides traded blame over who started Tuesday&rsquo;s fighting, which continued into the night and is among the deadliest violence between the government and Kurdish forces since the toppling of Bashar al-Assad more than a year ago.&nbsp; It also adds to concerns about progress on the integration deal. On Tuesday morning, the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said factions affiliated with the government &ldquo;targeted the Sheikh Maqsud neighbourhood&rdquo;. By evening, the SDF said the death toll in the Kurdish-majority Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafiyeh districts had risen to four civilians, including two women and a child. It reported &ldquo;indiscriminate artillery and missile shelling&rdquo; on the areas, including &ldquo;the use of drones... direct sniper fire and heavy-weapon fire&rdquo;. Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafiyeh have remained under the control of Kurdish units linked to the SDF, despite Kurdish fighters agreeing to withdraw from the areas in April. <h2 style="line-height: 2;">Stalled integration&nbsp;</h2>In a statement carried by state news agency SANA, the defense ministry said the SDF targeted &ldquo;a number of neighborhoods in Aleppo city adjacent to the districts it controls&rdquo;. SANA reported five people killed by SDF fire -- four civilians, including a child, in addition to a member of the Defense Ministry personnel. The agriculture ministry said two of the dead were workers at a research center. &ldquo;The SDF is again proving that it does not recognize the March 10 agreement and is trying to undermine it,&rdquo; the defense ministry said. Suspension of flights&nbsp;Civil aviation authorities announced &quot;the suspension of flights to and from Aleppo airport for 24 hours and their diversion to Damascus airport&quot; due to the violence, SANA reported. Governor Azzam al-Gharib announced schools, universities, and government offices in Aleppo city would be closed on Wednesday and public events cancelled, citing &ldquo;the current situation and the targeting of several hospitals and institutions by indiscriminate SDF artillery shelling&rdquo;. The SDF&nbsp;controls swathes of Syria&rsquo;s oil-rich north and northeast, and, supported by a US-led international coalition, was key to the territorial defeat of the Islamic State group in Syria in 2019.The March agreement on its integration into the state was supposed to be implemented by the end of 2025. <h2 style="line-height: 2;">&lsquo;Lay down&rsquo; weapons&nbsp;</h2>In Ankara, Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler said, &ldquo;the PKK (the Kurdistan Workers&#39; 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&rdquo;. The SDF is dominated by the People&#39;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. &ldquo;We will not allow any terrorist organization -- particularly the PKK, the PYD, the YPG, and the SDF -- to establish a foothold in the region,&rdquo; Guler added. A close ally of the new authorities, Turkey shares a 900-kilometer (550-mile) border with Syria and has launched successive offensives to push Kurdish forces from its frontier. Also, on Tuesday, the SDF accused factions affiliated with Syria&#39;s army of attacking Deir Hafer, around 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Aleppo, and near the strategic Tishreen Dam to the city&#39;s northeast. The Kurdish-led force affirmed its right to &ldquo;respond legitimately to these attacks&rdquo;. On Sunday, SDF chief Mazloum Abdi held further talks with officials in Damascus on integrating the Kurdish-led forces, but state media reported no tangible results. The Kurds are pushing for decentralized rule, an idea which Syria&#39;s new authorities have rejected. Last month in Aleppo, clashes killed five people, while Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan urged the SDF not to be an obstacle to Syria&#39;s stability.

The implementation of a March deal to merge the Kurds’ semi-autonomous administration and military into Syria’s new government has largely stalled.

Articles tagged with "Kurdish forces"

Syria army extends control over north as Kurds report clashes

Nine dead in clashes between Syrian govt, Kurdish forces in Aleppo