Clashes between Syrian army, Kurdish-led SDF break out in Aleppo 

Injuries have been reported after clashes broke out between the Syrian army and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Aleppo, as a deadline to integrate the SDF into Syria’s state institutions looms.

Syria’s state-run SANA news agency reported on Monday that the SDF launched attacks against Syrian security force positions near the Sheihan and Lairmoun roundabouts in Aleppo.

“The Gaziantep-Aleppo road has been closed from the direction of the Lairmoun and Sheihan roundabouts as SDF targets the road,” the news agency said.

The Syrian Civil Defence said two of its rescuers were injured after the vehicle they were travelling in was fired upon by the SDF, while two children also suffered “various injuries” due to SDF gunfire at the Sheihan roundabout.

In a statement shared by SANA, Syria’s Interior Ministry also reported that two security personnel were injured in what the ministry called a “treacherous” SDF attack against the country’s security forces.

“This evening, SDF forces stationed in the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods in Aleppo committed a treacherous act against the Internal Security Forces stationed at joint checkpoints,” the ministry said.

The violence comes as Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan visited Syria’s capital Damascus for talks with Syrian officials on the integration of the SDF into the country’s new army ahead of a looming deadline.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who came to power following the removal of longtime leader Bashar al-Assad in December of last year, signed a deal in March with the SDF to integrate the group into the country’s state institutions.

But the details of the integration process were left vague, and the deal’s implementation has stalled.

Reporting from Damascus, Al Jazeera’s Ayman Oghanna said the high-level meeting between the Syrian and Turkish officials was “the catalyst” for Monday’s clashes. “We’ve heard reports of heavy gunfire and even shelling,” he said.

“Previously, Damascus had suggested merging the 50,000 SDF fighters into three divisions, with partial Syrian control. The Turks were really against this, and they said they wanted to dismantle the SDF’s existing command structure,” Oghanna explained.

The US-backed SDF has controlled a large swath of territory in northeastern Syria since 2015.

“The issue of integrating SDF into Syrian government forces is probably the most combustible factor in Syria today. It’s a huge hotspot, and it really threatens the national unity of Syria.”

Samy Akil, a non-resident fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, said there are multiple reasons as to why the agreement has not been implemented yet, including a lack of confidence-building measures between the two sides.

“The SDF is under a lot of pressure to start implementing this agreement and basically give up at the territories it controls and integrate into the Syrian armed forces,” Akil told Al Jazeera.

“While at the same time, the Syrian government is also under immense pressure from [Turkiye] to find a diplomatic solution,” he said.

“There’s a lot of pressure on both sides, and I think the reason why these clashes happened was to … destabilise the talks or put more pressure on the Turkish side.”

A major sticking point has been whether the SDF would remain as a cohesive unit in the new Syrian army or whether it would be dissolved and its members individually absorbed into the new military.

Turkiye, which considers the SDF to be a “terrorist” organisation due to its links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), has been opposed to the SDF joining as a single unit.

Kurdish officials have said that a preliminary agreement has been reached to allow three divisions affiliated with the SDF to integrate as units into the new army, but it is unclear how close the sides are to finalising it.

The original deadline for implementation of the March deal was the end of the year, and there have been fears of a military confrontation if progress is not made by then.

Speaking alongside Fidan on Monday, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani said the government had not seen “an initiative or a serious will” from the SDF to implement the integration agreement.

“There has been systematic procrastination,” al-Shibani said.

He added that Damascus had submitted a proposal to the SDF for moving forward with the military merger and received a response Sunday, which is currently “under review”.