SDF

U.S.-Led Coalition Meets With Kurds to Ease Tensions With Damascus: Kurdish Spokesman

A US-led coalition delegation met with Kurdish forces east of Syria's Aleppo on Friday in a bid to ease tensions with Damascus following clashes over the past week, a Kurdish spokesman said. Farhad Shami, spokesman for the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, told AFP the meeting took place in Deir Hafer, as Syrian government ...

Syrian Army Says Controls Aleppo District, Kurdish Forces Deny Claim

Syria's army said it had completed a "security sweep" on Saturday of a neighborhood in Aleppo where it clashed with Kurdish forces, who denied losing control of the area after defying calls to surrender. Government forces began striking the Sheikh Maqsud district overnight after a deadline elapsed for Kurdish fighters to withdraw during a ...

Syria Says Talks on Military Integration of Kurds Inconclusive

Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi held talks with officials in Damascus on Sunday on integrating his forces into the central government, but state media said no tangible results were achieved. Abdi signed a deal in March with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa to merge the civil and military institutions of the Kurds' semi-autonomous ...

Syria Kurds Chief Says 'All Efforts' Being Made to Salvage Deal with Damascus

Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said Thursday that "all efforts" were being made to prevent the collapse of talks on an agreement with Damascus to integrate his forces into the central government. The remarks came days after Aleppo saw deadly clashes between the two sides before their respective leaders ordered a ceasefire. In March, Abdi ...

How Syria Can Begin Integrating the SDF

Clashes erupted December 22 in Aleppo between Syrian government troops and the local Kurdish security forces (Asayish), killing at least three people and underscoring the challenges facing efforts to unify armed factions under the Syrian transitional government. Even as Damascus seeks to consolidate nationwide security and integrate armed ...

Two Syrian Soldiers Killed by Kurdish Forces

Kurdish forces killed two Syrian soldiers in overnight clashes in the country's northeast, the defense ministry said Thursday, with the Kurds saying they were targeting positions used by the Islamic State group. The ministry said in a statement carried by SANA state news agency, that clashes took place after the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces ...

Syria Kurds Say Lawmaker Selection Process Undemocratic

Syria's Kurds on Sunday criticised the upcoming selection of members of a new transitional parliament as undemocratic, after authorities postponed the process for Kurdish-controlled areas in the north and northeast. After toppling longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December, Syria's new authorities dissolved the parliament and adopted a temporary ...

Syria: SDF Chief Welcomes Ocalan's Call for PKK to Disband

The leader of the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Thursday welcomed a call by jailed PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan for the Kurdish militant group to lay down its weapons and disband. "We see this initiative in a positive light because it is about peace here," Mazloum Abdi said. The SDF is dominated by the Kurdish People's ...

Kurds Seek to Empty Refugee Camps of Syrians, Iraqis by Yearend

Syria's semi-autonomous Kurdish administration aims to empty camps in the northeast of thousands of displaced Syrians and Iraqi refugees, including suspected relatives of jihadists, by the end of the year, an official said. "The autonomous administration is working to empty the camps" of Syrians and Iraqis "in 2025... in coordination with the ...

SOHR Says 21 Pro-Turkey Fighters Killed Near Flashpoint Northern Town

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) war monitor said 21 pro-Turkey fighters were killed Wednesday after they attacked a Kurdish-held position near a flashpoint northern town despite a US-brokered ceasefire extension in the area. The persistent fighting between Turkish-backed factions and US-backed Kurdish-led forces comes more than a ...