The PKK terrorist organization’s Syrian wing, the YPG, targeted civilians in the country on Wednesday, thereby endangering the fragile restructuring process of Syria after the fall of Bashar Assad.
The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that the SDF, the YPG’s umbrella organization, targeted the vicinity of the town of Al-Khafsa in the eastern countryside of Aleppo with mortar shells as well as homes in the village of Al-Kayyariya in the Manbij countryside.
One civilian was killed and two others were injured from the same family in the attack in Al-Kayyariya. The injured were taken to nearby hospitals.
The escalation comes months after the signing of an agreement on March 10 between Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and YPG leader Ferhat Abdi Şahin.
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, 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.
It marks a major breakthrough that would bring most of Syria under the control of the government led by the group that spearheaded the ousting of dictator Assad in December.
The SDF had refused to join the new Syrian Defense Ministry following the fall of the Assad regime.
The deal, to be implemented by the end of the year, would bring all border crossings with Iraq and Türkiye in the northeast, airports, and oil fields under the control of the central government.
