LONDON: Four people were killed and at least 17 injured in attacks by Kurdish-led forces in Syria’s second largest city, state media reported on Tuesday.
The clashes marked the third day in a row that the Syrian Democratic Forces had attacked targets in Aleppo and the surrounding province, Syria’s Defense Ministry said.
Two women and a man died after the SDF shelled residential buildings in and around Aleppo’s Al-Midan neighborhood, SANA reported.
The Aleppo Agriculture Directorate said nine of its employees were taken to the hospital after its building in the area was hit by an SDF shell.
Some residents in the area fled to safer parts of the city, the report said, with authorities urging people to avoid areas where clashes were underway until secured by the security forces.
Earlier, a Syrian soldier was killed by an SDF drone strike against army positions in Aleppo’s Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to the north.
The attack near the Shayhan roundabout injured three others.
The Defense Ministry accused the SDF of shelling several Aleppo neighborhoods next to areas it controls, causing extensive damage to private property.
The army responded by striking the SDF positions and drone launch sites.
The ministry accused the SDF of violating an agreement signed in March that included plans to integrate the Kurdish-led group’s military, territory and natural resources, including oil fields, into the new government in Damascus.
“The SDF organization once again proves that it does not recognize the March 10 agreement and is trying to derail it and drag the army into an open battle of its choosing,” the ministry’s media office said.
The deal was meant to be implemented by the end of 2025, but talks between the two sides on Sunday provided no “tangible results,” state TV reported.
The SDFdenied it was behind Tuesday's attacks and instead blamed the casualties on "indiscriminate artillery and missile shelling carried out by factions of the Damascus government."
