The Syrian army declared areas west of the Euphrates a military zone on Saturday and pushed east in a rapid offensive to regain territory held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.
The fighting comes despite an internationally brokered agreement announced on Saturday. Both sides have accused the other of violating the deal, reporting renewed clashes and the deaths of several fighters.
Tensions have escalated between the SDF - which control a contested semi-autonomous region in Syria’s north-east - and Damascus after clashes erupted in Aleppo over the control of three Kurdish-majority neighbourhoods where the SDF has long been stationed.
SDF commander Mazloum Abdi said on Friday evening that his forces would withdraw from contact lines in eastern Aleppo to the east bank of the Euphrates, starting on Saturday.
Mr Abdi and Syria’s President Ahmad Al Shara, who has vowed to reunify the country after 14 years of civil war, have signed an agreement on integrating the Kurdish-led administration into the central government.
However, implementation has stalled, fuelling a military escalation with the SDF that analysts describe as a shift in Damascus’s approach, which had privileged the diplomatic option.
The border between the Kurdish-led authorities and Syria’s central government largely runs along the Euphrates, with the western bank controlled by Damascus and the eastern bank run by Kurdish authorities.
But the SDF has long held pockets on the river’s western side, including Aleppo's Kurdish-majority districts that it lost in fighting earlier this month, as well as positions in the eastern Aleppo countryside.
After the Syrian army announced on Saturday that it had taken control of the town of Deir Hafir, along with Maskanah and more than a dozen other towns and villages in eastern Aleppo, it pushed its advance further east.
“We demand that the SDF immediately fulfil its declared commitments and fully withdraw to the east of the Euphrates River,” the army said.
Syria's army is advancing on several fronts and has reported rapid gains, including towards the Tabqa military airport and the Rasafa area in southern Raqqa province.
It said its forces had captured seven villages surrounding Tabqa and were “tightening the noose” around the base. Information Minister Hamza Al Mustafa said troops had also seized strategic oil sites near Tabqa.
Oil has been a major sticking point in talks between the SDF and Damascus. Most of Syria’s energy resources lie in SDF-held territory, which covers about a quarter of the country. Kurdish forces remain in control of Syria’s most important oil fields in Deir Ezzor province, but the government has said those fields must be under state control.
The army command called on residents to stay away from the front lines, publishing a series of maps of the Tabqa and Rasafa areas. It urged civilians to avoid the sites, which are “being used by the PKK terrorist militias and remnants of the former regime, allies of the SDF, as a launching point for their terrorist operations against Syrians and their army”.
Damascus has accused the PKK, a Kurdish militant group, of obstructing negotiations with the SDF. Analysts say more hardline elements operating outside the SDF’s command have complicated the talks. The SDF denies being an extension of the PKK, formally known as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, despite ideological and cultural ties.
The SDF called the Syrian army’s advance “a violation of the agreement”, saying “violent clashes continue between our forces and Damascus factions that violated recent agreements and betrayed our forces while implementing the withdrawal terms”.
It accused Damascus of deploying in the area before the withdrawal was completed. It also blamed Damascus for pushing beyond the limits set out in the deal, and advancing in regions “outside of the scope of the agreement”.
“Our forces are engaged in fierce and heroic clashes, continuing to repel treacherous attacks, while continuing to strengthen defense lines and maintain full combat readiness,” it added.
