Syria’s army on Tuesday ordered Kurdish forces to withdraw from a wide area east of Aleppo, days after deadly clashes shook the city, while a senior Kurdish official accused Damascus of preparing a new offensive, AFP reported.
The Islamist government in Damascus has been working to reassert control across the country, but efforts to integrate the Kurds’ de facto autonomous administration and its forces into the central military structure - under a deal reached last March - have stalled.
In Qamishli, the main Kurdish city in the northeast, thousands took to the streets to protest the Aleppo violence, with some demonstrators burning pictures of Syrian President Ahmed al‑Sharaa, an AFP correspondent reported.
State television published an army statement and map declaring a large zone east of Aleppo a “closed military zone," ordering that “all armed groups in this area must withdraw to east of the Euphrates" River.
The Kurdish‑held area stretches from near Deir Hafer, roughly 50 kilometres from Aleppo, to the Euphrates about 30 kilometres further east, and extends southward.
On Monday, Damascus accused the US‑backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) of sending reinforcements to Deir Hafer and said it deployed its own personnel in response. The SDF, the military arm of the Kurds’ semi‑autonomous administration, controls large swathes of the oil‑rich north and northeast captured during the civil war and the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist organization.
An AFP correspondent saw government forces transporting reinforcements - including air defense systems and artillery - toward Deir Hafer on Tuesday.
Kurdish forces denied any troop build‑up and accused the government of attacking the town, while state media claimed SDF sniper fire killed one person.
Elham Ahmad, a senior Kurdish administration official, said government forces were “preparing themselves for another attack."
“The real intention is a full-scale attack" on Kurdish‑held areas, she said during an online press conference, accusing Damascus of issuing a “declaration of war" and violating the March integration agreement.
“These assaults should stop," she said, adding that if guarantees were provided “for the security of the civilian population, we are ready to continue the negotiation and dialogue," and suggested the UN or other international bodies join the process. “We will defend ourselves," she added.
The government seized full control of Aleppo city over the weekend after capturing the Kurdish‑majority Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafiyeh neighbourhoods and evacuating fighters to Kurdish‑held areas in the northeast.
Both sides blamed each other for sparking last Tuesday’s clashes, which killed dozens and displaced tens of thousands.