On 22 December 2025, violent confrontations broke out in Aleppo between the Syrian army and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (hereinafter: SDF), shattering the relative calm in the region. The SDF clashes reportedly began when the group targeted Syrian security positions near the Sheihan and Lairmoun roundabouts, forcing the closure of the Gaziantep-Aleppo road.
According to the Syrian Civil Defence, two of its rescuers were injured when their clearly marked vehicle was fired upon by Kurdish elements during the unrest. Al Jazeera reports that the fighting involved “heavy gunfire and even shelling,” serving as a kinetic backdrop to the high-level diplomatic talks occurring simultaneously in Damascus regarding the SDF’s integration into the Syrian state.
Stalled Integration and Turkish Pressure
The violence coincides with a critical visit by the Turkish Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan, to Damascus. The talks aimed to address the deadline for the integration of Kurdish forces into the Syrian military — a process agreed upon in March 2025 but which remains largely unimplemented.
During a joint press conference, Foreign Minister Fidan expressed scepticism regarding the SDF’s commitment to the agreement. The SDF has no intention to make too much of an advance towards integration, Fidan stated, accusing the group of stalling as the year-end deadline approaches. Furthermore, Fidan alleged that the SDF is conducting operations in “coordination with Israel,” describing this collaboration as a “major obstacle” to negotiations with Damascus.
Conflicting Proposals and Systematic Procrastination
The core disagreement revolves around the structure of the integration. Damascus had previously proposed merging the estimated 50.000 Kurdish fighters into three divisions under partial Syrian state control. However, Türkiye remains strictly opposed to preserving the SDF’s command structure, insisting that the group, which also hosts multiple terror organisations, must be dismantled and its members absorbed individually.
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani echoed Ankara’s frustration, stating that the government had not seen an initiative or a serious will from the Kurdish group to implement the deal. He characterised the group’s actions as systematic procrastination. Despite this, Shibani confirmed that Damascus had submitted a new proposal regarding the military merger and received a response from the Kurdish group on Sunday, which is currently under review.
Concluding Outlook
The outbreak of hostilities in Aleppo suggests that the diplomatic impasse regarding the status of the SDF is rapidly devolving into a military confrontation. With the Syrian government declaring that it will place more importance on the northern region and reassert its presence there, the window for a negotiated settlement appears to be closing. If the current review of the integration proposal fails to yield a breakthrough before the year-end deadline, it is highly probable that the Syrian army, likely with Turkish support, will shift from negotiation to a coercive strategy aimed at dismantling the SDF’s autonomous military structure in northeastern Syria.
From a strategic standpoint, the goal of the terror-oriented SDF could be to aim for full control of the regions in the Northern regions of Syria as the pressure to join the Syrian state increases. With the strategic focus of other Kurdish terror groups shifting towards the Syrian umbrella organisation, it might well be that the group assesses its power to be sufficient to claim the said territories. Moreover, Syria’s ongoing battle with Israel in the South would open a flank to the struggling nation.
However, if the proclaimed links between the Kurds and Israel turn out to be true, this attack needs to be viewed as a proxy maneuvre to weaken Syria, a scenario which would fit well into another development, namely the redeployment of North American troops in Syria and new military activism on Syrian soil. Of course, these claims need to be verified, but from a tactical perspective, the scenario can be possible.
