Syrian army launches strikes against Kurdish-led SDF east of Aleppo

SDF’s Mazloum Abdi says he will withdraw forces east of Euphrates, as President al-Sharaa issues Kurdish rights decree.Published On 16 Jan 2026The Syrian Army has launched a military operation against Kurdish fighters in the Kurdish-controlled area of Deir Hafer, following violent clashes in Aleppo.The army issued warnings on Friday ahead of strikes targeting the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Deir Hafer, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of Aleppo, saying it would focus on areas that Kurdish forces were using “as a launching point for their terrorist operations towards the city of Aleppo and its eastern countryside”.SDF leader Mazloum Abdi (also known as Mazloum Kobani) said in response that his forces would withdraw to the east of the Euphrates River.In a post on X, Abdi said that “based on calls from friendly countries and mediators … we have decided to withdraw our forces tomorrow morning at 7am [04:00 GMT]” east of Aleppo “towards redeployment in areas east of the Euphrates”.Abdi said he was withdrawing fighters “in demonstration of … our commitment to implementing the provisions of the March 10th agreement”, referring to stalled plans to integrate the Kurdish de facto autonomous administration into the Syrian state.Delays with implementation of the deal, which was supposed to see the Kurdish-led SDF integrating with the Syrian Ministry of Defence by the end of 2025, led to fierce clashes in Aleppo this month that left at least 23 people dead, according to Syria’s Ministry of Health.As Syrian forces advanced, more than 150,000 fled two pockets of the city that the SDF, which controls swaths of Syria’s oil-rich north and northeast, had held since the early days of Syria’s civil war, which erupted in 2011.