Syrian army intensifies attacks on SDF-held areas

The Syrian Arab Army on Tuesday stepped up attacks on Aleppo’s areas under the control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) following deadly clashes in Kurdish-majority neighborhoods of the city. The army has also targeted the vicinity of the strategic Tishreen dam, said the SDF.

“Factions affiliated with the Damascus government attacked the vicinity of Tishreen Dam twice using suicide drones and artillery shelling, coinciding with rocket strikes on the village of ‘Umm al-Marra’ south of Deir Hafer, amid ongoing military escalation in the area,” said the SDF in a statement.

It also reported more attacks by the army in Deir Hafer earlier in the day.

The Syrian Arab Army declared several SDF-held areas in Aleppo, including Deir Hafer, as “closed military zones” before launching attacks on the force.

The army’s Operations Command attributed the move to what it said was the “continued mobilization by the SDF, together with the terrorist [Kurdistan Workers’ Party] PKK militias and remnants of the former [Ba’ath] regime,” as well as claims that the area has become “a launch point for Iranian suicide drones that shelled the city of Aleppo.”

The state-run al-Ikhbariyah cited a military source as confirming the attacks on the SDF-held areas.

The unnamed source said the Jihadist-led army “targeted positions of the SDF in the vicinity of the city of Deir Hafer with artillery shells, in response to the latter targeting the surroundings of the village of Humaima with drones.”

The SDF has repeatedly warned that Damascus plans more attacks on them, blaming regional allies of the Islamist-led government for encouraging the army to carry out such actions.

In recent days, Damascus had reiterated claims that it “detected the arrival of additional armed groups at positions held by the SDF” near Deir Hafer and Maskanah, alleging that the reinforcements include fighters from the PKK as well as members of the deposed Bashar al-Assad regime.

The SDF on Monday dismissed reports that it is expanding its presence in eastern Aleppo as “misleading,” describing them as “an attempt to manufacture tension and create pretexts for escalation.”

The exchange of accusations comes against the backdrop of deadly violence that struck Aleppo’s Kurdish neighborhoods of Ashrafiyeh and Sheikh Maqsood last week.

At least 82 people were killed, including 43 civilians, according to a Sunday report by the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). Approximately 150,000 others were displaced, the Erbil-based Barzani Charity Foundation (BCF) told Rudaw on Saturday.