Fighting broke out Sept. 20 in the village of Um Tineh, in Deir Hafer district of Syria's Aleppo province, between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF [10]) and forces aligned with the Damascus regime, leaving at least seven civilians dead. The SDF said the clashes began with a drone attack on the village, followed by artillery bombardment, damaging local homes. The statement blamed the assault on forces loyal to Turkey, implying they were fighters of the Syrian National Army (SNA [10]), which has apparently not yet been thoroughly integrated into the central government's newly constituted Syrian Armed Forces.
The Democratic Autonomous Administration of North & East Syria (DAANES [14]) also issued a strong condemnation of the "horrific massacre," adding that "such practices prove that some parties are not serious about building a new Syria based on freedom, democracy, and social justice." (Kurdistan24 [15], SOHR [16], ANHA [17])
The clashes came three days after President Ahmed al-Sharaa warned that the SDF's failure to integrate into the Syrian Armed Forces could provoke Turkish military intervention. Speaking to the Turkish newspaper Milliyet [18] ahead of his arrival in New York to attend the UN General Assembly meeting, al-Sharaa charged that SDF demands for regional autonomy are a "cover for separatist ambitions." He said that the SDF's decision to remain in arms despite the call by Abdullah Öcalan to dissolve the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK [19]) makes it a security threat for Turkey, and that Ankara's patience "may run out by year's end."
Recounting his March meeting [14] with SDF Commander Mazloum Abdi on integration of the Kurdish autonomous zone, al-Sharaa said he told him directly: "If you come to demand Kurdish rights, there is no need. My principle is that Kurds are equal Syrian citizens, and I am more concerned about their rights than you are."
Meanwhile, Commander Abdi used a military council meeting to reiterate the SDF's commitment to the March 10 agreement, urging all sides to maintain the fragile ceasefire in northeast Syria. "The political solution is the best option to preserve Syria's stability and the well-being of its citizens," Abdi said. (Kurdistan24 [20])
On the same day as al-Sharaa's warning, thousands of people rallied in SDF-controlled town of Qamishli [14] in support of the DAANES and to demand a "decentralization" model for Syria that will maintain autonomy for the Kurdish region in the northeast, known as Rojava. One prominent banner read: "The SDF is the will of the people." (Kurdistan24 [21], TNA [22])
The rally was called partly in response to moves by the Syrian Ministry of Justice in the SNA-held town of Afrin [23] to remove remnant Kurdish judicial officials, replacing them with Arabs. Kurdish activists assailed this as a policy of "Arabization" that protends erosion or abolition of the autonomous administration [24] in Rojava. (Kurdistan24 [25])
Deir Hafer district, where the new clashes took place, is part of Tabqa canton under the DAANES system, which was re-organized after Afrin (formerly its own "canton") was taken [26] by Turkish-backed forces in 2018. Planned talks in Paris between the SDF/DAANES and the Damascus government on how to integrate the autonomous zone were cancelled in mid-August when the central government dropped out. The transitional government cited a conference held by the SDF in Hasakah [27] (capital of the province of that name, and part of Jazira [28]/Cizre canton under the DAANES, also covering Qamishli), aimed at uniting the Kurds and other Syrian minority peoples in the northeast.
The Aug. 8 conference, entitled "Unifying the Position of the Components of Northern & Eastern Syria," was assailed by the transitional government as a "serious blow" to the ongoing negotiations and a "clear violation" of the March 10 agreement. The statement accused "extremist Kurdish factions" within the SDF of seeking "systematic demographic change against Arab Syrians" under instructions from the (ostensibly dissolved) PKK leadership in Iraq's Qandil Mountains [19]. (Anadolu Agency [29], France24 [30], Jusoor [31])
Turkey has repeatedly bombed [11] SDF-held territory in Syria over the past months, as the threat of Arab-Kurdish ethnic war [12] looms larger on the ground.
