Deadly Chaos In Northern Syria As Kurdish Forces Withdrew From Western Euphrates (Videos)

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Sephardic clashes broke out between the forces of the Islamist-led Syrian Transitional Government (STG) and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the northern governorate of Aleppo on January 17, as the latter began withdrawing from from a wide area to the west of the Euphrates River as a part of an agreement reached a day earlier.

The government amassed a large force in the eastern Aleppo countryside earlier this week, and declared a wide area held by the SDF to the west of the Euphrates a “closed military zone”.

The area in question extends from the vicinity of the town of Deir Hafer, passing through the towns of Qawas and Babiri, all the way to the town Maskana on the western bank of Lake Assad.

The escalation displaced thousands of people, with the government accusing the SDF of blocking an evacuation route opened by its forces and claiming that some of the group’s fighters had defected.

SDF commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi announced the decision to withdraw from the area following intense shelling by STG forces that targeted Deir Hafer and nearby areas on January 16.

“Based on invitations from friendly countries and mediators, and in demonstration of our good faith in completing the merger process and our commitment to implementing the provisions of the March 10 agreement, we have decided to withdraw our forces tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. [local time] from the current contact lines east of Aleppo — areas that have been under attack for the past two days — and redeploy them to areas east of the Euphrates,” the commander said in a statement posted to X.

Before the announcement, Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa signed a decree formally recognizing Kurdish as a “national language” and acknowledging other rights for the ethnic group. The step was likely meant to shake the legitimacy of the SDF.

STG forces began moving in the area early in the morning of the next day, only for the SDF to announce that its forces have yet withdrawn.

“Based on the internationally brokered agreement, it was agreed that the Damascus government forces would enter the towns of Deir Hafer and Maskana, east of Aleppo, after our forces completed their withdrawal. However, Damascus violated the terms of the agreement and entered the two towns before our fighters had fully withdrawn, creating a highly dangerous situation with potentially serious repercussions,” the group said in a statement.

The situation began to get out of control, with the Syrian Defense Ministry accusing the SDF of killing four soldiers in two separate attacks near Maskana and in Dibsi Afnan, which is located in the southern Raqqa countryside. The defection of more fighters from the group was also reported.

The SDF responded with a statement, saying that some of its fighters were killed, and revealing that the agreement gave it 48 hours to withdraw.

“We hold those who violated the agreement and betrayed our forces fully responsible for this escalation. We also hold the sponsoring international powers responsible for what is happening, and we call on them to intervene immediately to stop the violations and prevent the situation from worsening,” the statement reads.

This was followed by even more escalation by STG forces, with the MoD designating all areas to the west of the Euphrates a “closed military zone,” that’s including the city of Tabqa and its surroundings in the southern Raqqa countryside, which were not a part of the original agreement. An official map showing the new designated area was even released via the state-run Al Ekhbariya TV.

A Syrian military official told Al Jazeera TV soon after that an operation to capture the towns of Ratla and Ghanem al-Ali, located to the south and east of Tabqa, had been launched. This was not immediately confirmed by Syrian state media, however.

The escalation came amid efforts by the United States to ceasefire between the STG and the SDF, which are both considered allies of it.

JD Vance spoke with President Ahmad al-Sharaa over the phone a day earlier, and Special Envoy Tom Barrack set up a meeting with Abdi in the Iraqi semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan. It does not appear, however, that these efforts will bring both sides back to the merger agreement reached in March.

Even if a ceasefire was reached, the STG and SDF will likely clash again later. The government appears to be keen on ending the group in its current form.

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