Eurasia Press & News
Damascus’ effort to force remaining Kurdish militia fighters out of the northern city of Aleppo will set back efforts to construct an inclusive, national political structure in post-Assad Syria.
The Syrian offensive undermined U.S. negotiations to integrate its anti-ISIS partner, the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), into the central government security architecture.
The expulsion of SDF members from Aleppo answers demands by Damascus’ ally, Türkiye, for a sphere of influence and buffer zone in northern Syria free of armed Kurdish groups.
The fighting in Aleppo dampened regional optimism that followed a U.S.-brokered agreement between Syria and Israel to engage in limited security cooperation and intelligence sharing.
A push by the post-Assad government in Damascus to remove Kurdish forces of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) from the northern city of Aleppo exemplifies the challenges facing Damascus in building an inclusive national political structure that incorporates all Syrian minority communities. Since ousting Assad one year ago, the government has also used force to suppress protests for autonomy and greater political rights by the country’s Alawite and Druze communities. Few outside actors actively engage with the Alawites, who formed the backbone of Assad’s government and have been shunned by Syrians long oppressed by Assad. By contrast, Syria’s Druze community has received active backing from Israel, which has acted militarily on several occasions to halt or prevent acts by Damascus against that community. Kurds have long struggled for autonomy in the four regional states that are home to large Kurdish communities — Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Türkiye. Washington works closely with and has protected the Kurds in Iraq and Syria, whereas Türkiye views all of the region’s Kurdish communities as threats to the Turkish state. Kurds dominate the SDF, which has been the key partner of U.S. troops in Syria engaged in ongoing missions to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State (ISIS).
In March, U.S. officials brokered a framework accord between Damascus and the SDF to fold the group into a reorganized Syrian national force by the end of 2025. U.S. officials considered the pact a major advance in helping the new government build a unified, inclusive political and security structure and a national identity. The deal was also intended to accommodate Turkish requirements that organized Kurdish forces not operate independently near the Turkish border. Ankara has long claimed, despite Washington’s assessment to the contrary, that the SDF is dominated by Kurds aligned with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which sponsored acts of violence against the Turkish government during 1984-2025. Ankara has been using its role as a close mentor and benefactor of the government of interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa to press Damascus for a Turkish sphere of influence in northern Syria free of armed Kurdish groups.
The March Damascus-SDF agreement was immediately plagued by disputes over the scope and mechanisms of integration, and the pact’s core provisions were not finalized. Months of U.S.-brokered talks failed to bridge fundamental gaps between Kurdish leaders who insisted the SDF fold into the Syrian military as an entire unit, and the Damascus government that demanded SDF fighters enter the Syrian military individually, to be dispersed among the country’s various army units. More broadly, there was little progress in accommodating the Kurds’ demand for a significant degree of autonomy in Kurdish-inhabited regions of Syria, which would resemble the constitutionally authorized autonomous “region” that Iraq’s Kurds control in northern Iraq.
Some parts of the March accord were implemented, in large part because of Washington’s push to maintain close ties to both the new government in Damascus and the SDF. In April, prodded by U.S. officials and U.S. military commanders in Syria, scores of SDF fighters left the mostly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh in Aleppo. But Damascus, under pressure from Türkiye, expressed frustration that 2025 ended without a final agreement and the full implementation of the March pact. Seeking to pressure the Kurds to accede to Damascus’ demands, and prodded by its mentors in Ankara, the al-Sharaa government ordered an offensive to oust Kurdish SDF fighters remaining in the two Aleppo neighborhoods last Tuesday. In the subsequent days, at least 30 people were killed by the Syrian push in Aleppo, according to human rights observers, but some Kurdish militiamen remained in Aleppo. The director of the media department in Aleppo told Al Jazeera that more than 100,000 civilians had fled the two neighborhoods to avoid the fighting — a figure that might have climbed to nearly 200,000 over the weekend.
Assessing the Syrian push would harm relations with both Damascus as well as SDF leaders, U.S. officials immediately sought to end the combat. On Thursday, a U.S. State Department official said in a statement that the U.S. “is closely monitoring the situation” and urged “restraint on all sides.” It said U.S. envoy Tom Barrack, who serves as the Ambassador to Türkiye, is trying to facilitate dialogue between the two sides. Ambassador Barrack posted a statement on his X account appealing for de-escalation, saying: “[The United States] therefore issue[s] an urgent appeal to the leadership of the Syrian government, SDF, local authorities in Kurdish-administered areas, and all armed actors on the ground: pause hostilities, reduce tensions immediately, and commit to de-escalation. Let us prioritize the exchange of ideas and constructive proposals over the exchange of fire. The future of Aleppo, and of Syria as a whole, belongs to its people and must be shaped through peaceful means, not violence.” Barrack indirectly criticized Damascus for the timing of push, claiming that the U.S.-led mediation was “on the threshold of successfully concluding” the March SDF integration accord, which he said would “significantly advance security coordination, shared governance, and national unity.”
The U.S. diplomatic intervention did not terminate the conflict. On Thursday, Syria’s Defense Ministry announced a ceasefire in Aleppo, saying: “To prevent any slide towards a new military escalation within residential neighborhoods, the Ministry of Defense announces … a ceasefire in the vicinity of the Sheikh Maqsoud, Alashrafieh, and Bani Zeid neighbourhoods of Aleppo, effective from 3 A.M.” However, the ceasefire broke down after Kurdish groups rejected a Syrian government demand for their fighters to fully withdraw from Aleppo, and Damascus resumed its attack. By late Saturday, the SDF militiamen had left Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh on buses and were taken to another city in northern Syria, according to Syrian state media. The government said their weapons would be confiscated. The SDF called its retreat a “partial cease-fire,” in the interests of preventing more deaths and ensuring the safe evacuation of civilians and the wounded. Experts assessed that the SDF agreed to the withdrawal in an effort to limit its losses to Aleppo and avoid a further Syrian push against its forces outside Aleppo and in areas further east.
The SDF pullout brought calm to the city, but left major questions about whether the al-Sharaa government could build a stable and inclusive political order and oversee the country’s rebuilding. The SDF withdrawal appeared to satisfy Ankara’s demand for armed Kurdish groups to no longer operate near the Turkish border. But that goal, and the Aleppo combat, aggravated tensions between Türkiye and Israel, which has sought to counter Ankara’s influence in Syria. Türkiye’s Defense Minister Yasar Guler characterized the Aleppo operation as a counter-terrorism operation, saying: “We welcome this operation, which targets all terrorist groups. I would like to reiterate that we view Syria’s security as our own security and that we support Syria’s fight against terrorist organizations.”
Israel’s statement on the fighting more closely reflected the broader regional and global revulsion at the effect of the fighting on civilian Kurds in Aleppo. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar posted on X: “Attacks by the Syrian regime’s forces against the Kurdish minority in the city of Aleppo are grave and dangerous…Systematic and murderous repression of Syria’s various minorities contradicts the promises of a ‘new Syria’…The international community in general, and the West in particular, owes a debt of honor to the Kurds who fought bravely and successfully against ISIS.” Kurdish communities not only in Syria but in the broader region condemned the Aleppo assault, and many Kurds blamed Washington for acquiescing to the Syrian push — and for abandoning the Kurds in order to preserve its influence in Damascus. In the aftermath of the SDF withdrawal, Washington will likely work to prevent any further fighting in the north and limit the negative fallout for its anti-ISIS cooperation with the SDF.
The Syrian offensive against the SDF also cast a shadow over what had been a significant success for the post-Assad U.S.-Syria relationship and for regional stability. Earlier this month, Israel, Syria, and the United States agreed during talks in Paris to establish a real-time intelligence coordination mechanism, including a joint “hotline,” to prevent misunderstandings, manage disputes, and reduce friction along the border. The hotline will be staffed by representatives from all three countries. The sides also agreed to begin parallel talks on civilian issues alongside negotiations on a security framework, including cooperation in energy, health, and agriculture. The accord, although limited in scope, advances efforts by both Syria and Israel to construct a new relationship after 75 years of enmity. However, deep disagreements over major issues such as the final status of the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel since 1967 but internationally recognized as Syrian territory, will make any road to a comprehensive Israel-Syria peace long and difficult.
