Syrian army sends troops to rural Aleppo to stop any SDF attempt to regroup

The SDF denies the Syrian Ministry of Defence’s accusations that it had deployed military forces to the Deir Hafer front in the eastern Aleppo countryside.Published On 13 Jan 2026The Syrian army has sent reinforcements to rural eastern Aleppo, after observing the arrival of more Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) forces in the area, following days of deadly battles inside the city itself and the departure of the SDF.The official news agency SANA broadcast footage on Monday of Syrian army troops heading towards the deployment line east of Aleppo.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Syrian forces search for explosives, weapons after SDF pulls out of Aleppolist 2 of 4Last SDF fighters leave Syria’s Aleppo after days of deadly clasheslist 3 of 4Integration of armed factions remains one of Syria’s biggest challengeslist 4 of 4Photos: Syrians in Kurdish area of Aleppo pick up pieces after clashesend of listSANA quoted the Syrian Army Operations Authority as saying: “We have observed the arrival of more armed groups to the deployment points of the SDF organisation in the eastern Aleppo countryside near Maskana and Deir Hafer.”The agency added: “According to our intelligence sources, these new reinforcements included a number of fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK),” which last year began withdrawing all its forces from Turkiye to northern Iraq as part of a peace process with Turkiye, bringing an end to a months-long disarming process following a four-decade armed conflict that killed tens of thousands of people.The SDF denied the Syrian Ministry of Defence’s accusations that it had deployed military forces to the Deir Hafer front in the eastern Aleppo countryside.It said there were no unusual movements or preparations in the area, adding that the gatherings that took place were limited to civilians from northern and eastern Syria to receive the wounded from the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighbourhoods in the city of Aleppo.Residents return after battlesSyrian government forces on Monday were carrying out security sweeps in the city of Aleppo.