File image.
Syria’s Islamist-led interim government appears to be bracing for war with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (DF), which controls vast parts of the country’s northern and eastern regions with support from the United States.
The deployment of two of the Syrian military’s largest divisions along the front with the SDF in the eastern Aleppo countryside was reported on August 10.
Videos posted to social networks showed several convoys with hundreds, if not thousands, of troops from the 60th and 72th Divisions heading to the front. The forces appeared to be full-armed, with anti-tank guided missiles, heavy anti-aircraft machine guns and multiple rocket launchers.
Later, the Syrian Ministry of Defense denied any deployment, claiming that the divisions were just conducting a “military exercise” in a different part of Aleppo.
“Some social media platforms have circulated video footage of a Syrian Arab Army training exercise south of Aleppo, and it has been circulated as new military movements. In light of this, we clarify that what was reported by Al-Arabiya TV and a number of media outlets in this regard is inaccurate and does not reflect reality,” the ministry’s media office said.
The move came just a day after the Syrian government announced that it will not take part in meetings with the SDF in France, which were planned to discuss an agreement signed in March to integrate the group into state institutions including the military.
A government source told the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency that Damascus would not be involved in negotiations with any side that aims to “revive the era of the former regime”.
The decision was a response to a forum hosted by the Kurdish-led group on August 8 in which it called for the review of the constitutional declaration issued earlier this year by Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Participants also criticized the government over its deadly sectarian-motivated crackdown on the coast in March, and on al-Suwayda later in July.
“The current constitutional declaration does not meet the aspirations of the Syrian people … It should be reviewed to ensure a wider participatory process and a fair representation in the transitional period,” a final communique issued after the forum read.
The government source accused the Kurdish-led group of hosting “separatist figures engaged in hostile acts”, holding the SDF fully responsible for its implications, including the reimposition of sanctions and the “summoning of foreign intervention”.
Also on August 9, the SDF accused what it described as government-backed factions of attacking areas in northern and eastern Syria more than 22 times.
The group said in a statement it had exercised restraint during such “aggressions”, and that the continuation of such attacks “threaten mutual trust and undermine understandings”.
It’s worth noting that a report published by AL-Monitor on the same day revealed that Turkey played a role in Damascus’ decision not to attend the meetings in France. Ankara, the main ally of the Islamist-led government in Syria, views the SDF as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and deems it a threat to its national security.
With the Syrian government not showing willingness to engage in talks with the SDF, a military confrontation between the two seems inevitable.
Ankara is guaranteed to support the Syrian military. However, the U.S. could abandon the SDF in order to build closer relations with Damascus. Still, the group, which has more than 100,000 fighters, will certainly put on a fight.
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the kurds never learns. the americunts don’t give a damn about anyone but israhell. they are just useful idiots that they used them to put pressure on assad with a promise of a land of their own. now their usefulness is over, they would be left alone again as so many times before. what shame that israhell and the americunts have destroyed the only really country that could have made a difference for palestine.
the turds are the whores of the middle east. they always whore themselves out to foreign interests who dump them the moment they outlive their usefulness. they never learn. they stole syria’s oil and grain for years and starved the syrian people. they deserve all they get. they will probably be wiped out by isis proxy head choppers and erdogan soon. being a quisling and a whore can be bad for your health.
this is clearly an oppurtunity for russia to work with american forces in syria, the new regime is an older regime of terror much more deadly against the multiethnic diversity of syria and the region. this is not a nato fight, turkey and us/russia can exchange hostilities support the syrian people, the new internationale.
america put sanctions on assads syria then illegally occupied syrias oil fields and you’re saying this is an opportunity for russia to work with america, smh. 🤦
did you live in a cave since 2011 ?
the turds and the head choppers are both proxy terrorist forces serving zio and amerikunt interests. the idea of working with the amerikunts is worth a good belly laugh.
clueless dambo.
erdogan behind you.
american tax dollars funding and supplying murder tourists to expand and continue war on iran . syria is simply a staging area for this planned war . these videos are simply proof
if sharaa can’t take care of the druze problem right next to damascus how does he expect to defeat the ypg-pkk-sdf separatists east of the euphrates; specially when us forces completely control syria’s air space & can blow up all the bridges & sharaa’s army if it tries to bring rojava under central government control. anyone thinking erdougan can dislodge the ypg-pkk-sdf from rojava is delusional. erdougan will be deposed quickly if he goes against greater israel
yeah yeah what ever you think maggots
islamist can’t even destroy the druzes and they hope to destroy the kurds ? i can be wrong but without a full turkey involvment it seems very delusional to me.
if turkey joins what erdogan will win?
money or land?
looks like slick movie making, who musters and convoys like this anymore? drones much? naw this a hollywood production.
kurds deserve it… salafi syria deserve it…just sit and watch!
hopefully they will all kill one another. just so many zio whores. break out the popcorn.
kurds selling syrian arab petrol
and being rich people
while syrian people starwing
they’ll do all this to fight the kurds, but haven’t and won’t fire a single bullet at israel during a genocide of palestinians and an occupation of syria! treacherous pieces of sht. what is wrong with so called muslims?
kurds are whores