Syrian Army increases readiness after SDF movements in eastern Aleppo countryside

ISTANBUL

The Syrian Army said Sunday it has raised its readiness levels after detecting movements by the terrorist organization YPG/SDF in the eastern countryside of Aleppo.

In a statement carried by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), the army’s Operations Command said that army drones monitored the arrival of armed groups and medium and heavy weaponry belonging to the SDF at the Deir Hafer front, east of Aleppo.

The nature and objectives of the reinforcements remain unclear, the statement said, adding that the army has placed its forces on alert and reinforced deployment lines in eastern Aleppo.

“We are prepared for all scenarios,” the command said, without providing further details.

The developments came as the evacuation of the last group of SDF members from Aleppo’s Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood began.

The army had earlier announced that all military operations in the neighborhood were halted as of 3 pm local time (1200GMT) Saturday.

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.