Syrian internal security forces stand guard at a checkpoint in Daraa governorate (South), as buses arrive for the evacuation of civilians from Sweida by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, as part of the cease-fire agreement reached on Sunday between the government in Damascus and Druze factions, on July 23, 2025. (Credit: Khalil Ashawi/Reuters)
A soldier from the Syrian government was killed in clashes with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Aleppo province, several media reported on Tuesday citing the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).
On March 10, a deal between the head of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mazloum Abdi, and Syrian President, Ahmed al-Sharaa, was reached on integrating the Kurds' semi-autonomous civil and military institutions into the state. While the Kurds and Damascus have been holding talks on the implementation of this deal, the latest eruption of violence casts further doubt on its viability.
The Syrian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that the SDF must abide by that accord and stop targeting government forces, warning that “the continuation of these actions will lead to new consequences,” SANA reported, according to Al Jazeera.
However, the March agreement does not specify how the SDF would be integrated into Syria’s armed forces. The group has previously said its forces must join as a bloc, while the government wants its fighters to join as individuals.
The Syrian government said last week that it would not take part in planned meetings with the SDF in Paris after the Kurds hosted a meeting involving Syria's Druze and Alawite minority communities, which have been subjected to sectarian violence in recent months. However, Syria's foreign minister and a senior official in the country's Kurdish administration have met in Damascus, days after the government boycotted talks in France, AFP reported on Tuesday.
On Saturday, SDF, which served as the main U.S. ally in Syria during the campaign that defeated ISIS in 2019, accused government-backed factions of carrying out more than 22 attacks on areas in northeastern Syria. It said it had exercised restraint in the face of such “aggressions,” but warned that the continuation of attacks “threatens mutual trust and undermines understandings.”
Al-Sharaa’s new government has also faced severe repercussions from sectarian violence that broke out on July 13 in the southern province of Sweida between Bedouin and Druze fighters. An initial deployment by government troops to quell the conflict quickly turned into clashes between these forces and the Druze factions, leading to an Israeli intervention claiming to be in defense of the Druze.
