Syrian Army calls SDF’s deployment of armed groups in Aleppo ‘dangerous escalation’

ISTANBUL

The Syrian Army on Monday called the deployment of armed groups by the terrorist organization YPG/SDF in the eastern Aleppo province a “dangerous escalation,” warning that any action by these groups would be met with “a violent response.”

“We are conducting a direct and immediate assessment of the situation on the ground,” the army’s Operations Command said in a statement.

The command said that intelligence showed that these new reinforcements include fighters from the PKK terrorist organization and remnants of the former regime.

“We will not stand idly by in the face of this dangerous escalation,” the command warned.

A military source told the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) that new reinforcements of the Syrian Army have arrived at deployment points in Deir Hafer and Maskanah in the eastern Aleppo countryside.

Since Tuesday, the SDF has shelled residential neighborhoods, civilian facilities, and Syrian Army positions in Aleppo, killing 24 people, wounding nearly 130, and displacing about 165,000 residents from the Ashrafieh and Sheikh Maqsoud districts, according to official figures.

In March 2025, the Syrian presidency announced the signing of an agreement for the SDF’s integration into state institutions, reaffirming the country's territorial unity and rejecting any attempts at division.

In April 2025, Syrian authorities signed an agreement with the SDF concerning the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods, stipulating that both districts would be considered administrative parts of the city of Aleppo while respecting their local particularities.

The agreement also included provisions to ban armed manifestations, restrict weapons to internal security forces, and require the withdrawal of SDF military forces to areas east of the Euphrates River in northeastern Syria.

But authorities said that in the months since, the SDF has not shown any efforts to meet the terms of the agreements.

The Syrian government has intensified efforts to maintain security across the country since the ouster of the Assad regime in December 2024, after 24 years in power.