Syria’s government and Kurdish-led forces have declared a ceasefire in the northern city of Aleppo, hours after deadly clashes broke out between the two sides, threatening to derail a fragile political deal aimed at unifying the country’s divided military forces.
Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra announced the truce on Tuesday following talks with Mazloum Abdi, commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). He said both sides had agreed to a “comprehensive ceasefire across all fronts and military positions in northern and northeastern Syria.”
“The implementation of this agreement will begin immediately,” Abu Qasra said in a statement carried by state media.
Overnight clashes in Aleppo
The clashes erupted late Monday when SDF fighters allegedly targeted Syrian army checkpoints in Sheikh Maqsoud and Achrafieh, two Kurdish-populated districts of Aleppo. According to the state-run news agency SANA, the SDF fired mortar shells and heavy machine guns into residential areas, causing civilian casualties.
Local residents told The Associated Press that two security guards in a public park were killed, while a woman and a child were injured in the shelling.
The SDF, however, denied responsibility for the attacks, claiming its forces had withdrawn from the area months ago. In a statement, the group accused government forces of provocation, saying they were to blame for “initiating aggression and disrupting ongoing peace efforts.”
The violence marks the latest setback in a landmark deal signed in March between President Ahmed al-Sharaa and SDF commander Mazloum Abdi, which was meant to integrate Kurdish-led forces into Syria’s national security structure.
The agreement — reached after the fall of former President Bashar al-Assad in December — envisioned merging SDF fighters into the Syrian army and transferring control of border crossings, an airport, and key oil and gas fields to Damascus by the end of the year.
The SDF currently controls nearly a quarter of Syria’s territory, primarily in the northeast. The Syrian government has been eager to reassert full authority over these areas as part of its post-Assad stabilization strategy.
But progress on the deal has stalled in recent weeks, with both Damascus and the SDF accusing each other of breaching terms and carrying out provocations.
Diplomatic push amid fragile transition
In a statement on Tuesday, Syria’s presidential office said President al-Sharaa had spoken with U.S. envoy Tom Barrack about the integration plan and broader efforts to “safeguard Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
The two discussed ways to “support the political process” and revive the faltering security cooperation between the SDF and Damascus.
The talks come a day after Syria announced the results of its first parliamentary elections since the ouster of Assad — a symbolic step in what the government has called a “new democratic phase” after nearly 14 years of civil war.
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