Syrian troops poised to attack Kurdish towns as SDF withdraws east of Aleppo

Syrian troops are poised to onslaught towns successful the northbound and eastbound held by Kurdish fighters, sources acquainted with the substance said, ​to unit autonomy-minded Kurds into making concessions successful deadlocked talks with the Damascus government.

The menace of renewed subject enactment highlights the deepening responsibility lines ‌between the authorities of President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who has vowed to reunify the fractured state nether 1 enactment aft 14 years of civilian war, and ​regional Kurdish authorities wary of his Islamist-led administration.

Syrian Democratic Forces caput Mazloum Abdi said connected X connected Friday (January 16, 2026) that the radical volition retreat their forces from existent interaction lines eastbound of Aleppo astatine 7 a.m. section clip (4 a.m. GMT) connected Saturday and redeploy them to areas eastbound of the Euphrates, citing calls from affable countries and mediators.

Syria’s Defence Ministry welcomed the SDF’s determination to withdraw, saying it would intimately show afloat implementation, including the removal of fighters and equipment, up of the Syrian military’s deployment to the vacated areas to enforce authorities sovereignty.

Earlier, the Syrian subject said its shelling had started against subject bases belonging to a militia affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), and against remnants of the erstwhile authorities allied with SDF successful Aleppo’s Deir Hafer city.

The United States, which seeks to anchor bid successful Syria to enactment up wider Middle East stableness ​and assistance forestall immoderate resurgence of Islamic State militants, has urged some sides to debar a showdown and instrumentality to talks, according to a Syrian authoritative ⁠and a Syrian root acquainted with diplomatic channels.

The 2 sides engaged successful months of talks past twelvemonth to integrate Kurdish-run subject and civilian bodies into Syrian authorities institutions by the extremity of 2025, insisting repeatedly that they wanted to resoluteness disputes diplomatically.

But aft the deadline passed with small progress, clashes broke retired past week successful the bluish metropolis of Aleppo and ended with a withdrawal of Kurdish fighters.

Now, a broader confrontation ​looms, according to the sources, who see 3 Syrian officials, 2 Kurdish figures and ⁠three overseas diplomats.

As galore arsenic 5 Syrian service divisions could instrumentality portion successful the violative targeting Kurdish-held towns successful the bluish state of Aleppo and the immense eastbound godforsaken state of Deir el-Zor, a elder subject authoritative progressive successful the readying told Reuters.

If the maneuver fails to bring the parties backmost to the negotiating table, Syria’s service is considering a full-scale run that could spot the Kurds suffer the semi-autonomous portion they person managed for much than a decade, the authoritative said.

Escalation brings ‘grave risks’

Syrian Army units deployed connected Wednesday (January 14, 2026) and Thursday (January 15, 2026) to the municipality of Deir Hafer and surrounding villages conscionable westbound of the Euphrates River held by ‌the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish warring unit and a years-long recipient of U.S. enactment arsenic it battled the Islamic State militant group.

Syria’s subject has ordered SDF fighters to retreat eastbound of the stream and opened a humanitarian corridor for civilians to fly to government-held territory.

Some ‍residents who made it retired told Reuters they had to fly done farmland connected ft arsenic the main roadworthy had been shut. The SDF denied that it had blocked civilians from leaving.

Other Syrian troops were softly sent to different beforehand enactment successful distant Deir el-Zor province, wherever the Kurds tally cardinal lipid fields that Damascus says should beryllium nether cardinal ‍state control, according to 2 Syrian service commanders.

The SDF has condemned the build-up. “We intelligibly authorities that we are against immoderate subject confrontation, fixed its sedate risks,” Abdel Karim Omar, the Damascus-based typical of the Kurdish-led administration, told Reuters.

He said efforts were underway with the assistance of overseas mediators to revive the negotiations.

Washington had not explicitly opposed a constricted cognition by Syrian troops, 3 diplomats and an SDF official, who spoke connected information of anonymity, told Reuters. But the SDF authoritative said the U.S. was not doing capable to forestall a clash.

U.S. envoy Tom Barrack said connected Friday (January 16, 2026) Washington was successful “close interaction with each parties successful Syria, moving astir the timepiece to little the temperature, forestall escalation, and instrumentality to integration talks betwixt the Syrian authorities and the SDF”.

A State Department spokesperson said some sides should debar “pushing the state backmost into a rhythm of violence”.

The messaging underscores Washington’s effort to recalibrate its Syria argumentation by balancing years of backing for the SDF against its caller enactment for Sharaa, whose rebel forces ousted Russian-backed Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad successful precocious 2024.

Sharaa accused the SDF ⁠of obstructing U.S. argumentation to nurture a reintegrated Syria and taking orders from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, a separatist radical that waged a agelong insurgency successful Turkey earlier entering into a bid process with Ankara.

Sharaa, speaking connected authorities TV, said the SDF had taken “no applicable steps forward” to instrumentality ​last year’s integration pact, but hoped it could inactive beryllium carried retired “calmly”.