A 13-year-old boy was killed Wednesday when a land mine planted by the YPG-dominated SDF exploded in northern Syria, local media said.
The explosion occurred in the town of Mushrifat Tal Eltiten in the eastern countryside of Aleppo, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported.
Despite a March agreement between Syrian authorities and the SDF, clashes have continued, especially in and around Aleppo province.
Last month, a Syrian soldier died and three others were wounded in the fighting.
Under the March deal, the SDF forces would merge with the new Syrian national army. The agreement, which is supposed to be implemented by the end of the year, would also bring all border crossings with Iraq and Türkiye, as well as airports and oil fields in the northeast, under the central government’s control. Detention centers housing thousands of Daesh members, now guarded by the YPG, the Syrian wing of the PKK terrorist group, would also come under government control.
However, the agreement left the details vague and progress on implementation has been slow. A central sticking point has been whether the YPG would remain as a cohesive unit in the new army or whether the force would be dissolved and its members individually absorbed into the new military.
However, recently, both sides stated that they had approached a final solution and agreement.
Tensions have escalated in northern Syria following the ouster of Bashar Assad last December, ending his 24-year rule and the Baath Party’s six-decade dominance. Assad fled to Russia amid mounting public unrest and military defections.
The government, led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa since January, has vowed to reassert control across the country and eliminate remaining terrorist threats. Officials say the latest PKK/YPG assaults underscore ongoing challenges to achieving stability in the region.
