Syrian army tells Kurdish forces to withdraw from area east of Aleppo

Syria’s army told Kurdish forces on Tuesday to withdraw from an area east of Aleppo after deadly clashes in the city last week and as both sides reported fresh armed skirmishes breaking out overnight.

Syria’s Islamist-led government is seeking to extend its authority across the country, but progress has stalled on integrating the Kurds’ de facto autonomous administration and forces into the central government under a deal reached in March.

In Qamishli, the main Kurdish city in the country’s northeast, thousands of people demonstrated against the Aleppo violence, with some burning pictures of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, an AFP correspondent said.

Syrian state television published an army statement with a map declaring a large area east of Aleppo city a “closed military zone” and said “all armed groups in this area must withdraw to east of the Euphrates” River.

The area, controlled by Kurdish forces, extends from near Deir Hafer, around 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Aleppo, to the Euphrates about 30 kilometres further east, as well as towards the south.

The Syrian army and Kurdish forces reported fresh armed clashes overnight east of Aleppo.

An unnamed military source told the official SANA news agency that the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF): “is targeting army positions and civilian homes in the vicinity of the Humaymah village east of Aleppo, with heavy machine guns and drones, and the army is responding to the fire source”.

The SDF said in statements on Telegram that it had repelled an “infiltration attempt” near the village of Zubayda, a little further south, and also reported drone strikes, one of which had injured several of its fighters.

On Monday, Syria accused the US-backed SDF of sending reinforcements to Deir Hafer and said it sent its own personnel there in response.

The SDF is the de facto army of the Kurds’ semi-autonomous administration and controls swathes of the country’s oil-rich north and northeast, much of which it captured during Syria’s civil war and the fight against the Islamic State group.

An AFP correspondent saw government forces transporting reinforcements including air defence batteries and artillery towards Deir Hafer on Tuesday.

Kurdish forces denied any build-up of their personnel around Deir Hafer and accused the government of attacking the town, while state television said SDF sniper fire there killed one person.