Eastern rural Raqqa (in northeastern Syria) has seen clashes between the Syrian army and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), amid mutual accusations by both sides.

The Media and Communication Directorate at the Syrian Ministry of Defense said that two army soldiers were killed and others wounded in what it described as a “treacherous attack” carried out by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on 20 November, targeting army positions in Madan, east of Raqqa, following “intense” artillery and fire cover with various types of weapons.

According to the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), SDF took control of several positions during the attack, before the army launched a “direct counterattack” in which it managed to recapture the points it had lost and expel the attacking forces.

The Ministry of Defense blamed SDF for what it said was a “renewed, almost daily assault” on army positions in the area.

For its part, SDF offered a completely different account, saying its operations in eastern Raqqa targeted locations that it said the Islamic State group had used to launch drones toward its positions in the Ghanem Ali desert east of Raqqa.

A statement by the SDF Media Center said the area had witnessed a series of attacks this week carried out by what SDF described as factions “affiliated with the Damascus government”, in parallel with renewed activity by Islamic State cells. SDF argued that the locations its forces struck were “indeed” being used by the group as launch sites for drones.

SDF added that it had published video recordings that, according to the statement, confirm the existence of direct coordination between government forces and Islamic State elements in targeting its military positions.

In another statement, SDF said its forces had downed two drones on 19 November in the vicinity of the village of Ghanem Ali, east of Raqqa, and that the aircraft had been launched from government positions.

SDF said the drones, one a Matrice M30 model and the other an FPV attack drone, were recovered as wreckage and their memory cards examined. According to the statement, the analysis showed that one drone was being operated by “foreign gunmen linked to Islamic State” who were stationed inside positions belonging to those factions.

Clashes along the same axis

On 15 November, SDF said its forces had foiled an attack launched by government forces along the axis of Ghanem Ali village, east of Raqqa.

It said the attacking force had used suicide drones and heavy weapons during the assault, before the SDF managed to repel and thwart it. The statement mentioned that three of its fighters sustained minor injuries, while “confirmed casualties” were inflicted among the attacking factions.

SDF stressed that its response was “proportionate” to the nature of the attack and that it had acted to prevent an expansion of the clashes, but at the same time, it underlined that it would not tolerate repeated assaults and would take necessary measures to protect its areas.

The Syrian Ministry of Defense did not issue any statement regarding these clashes.

Obstacles to implementing the 10 March agreement

On 10 March, Syria’s transitional president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, and SDF commander Mazloum Abdi signed an agreement providing for the integration of the SDF into state institutions, both civilian and military.

Since then, rounds of negotiations have been taking place, in a faltering process both sides describe as positive, yet it has not produced any tangible results on the ground.

Political researcher Bassam al-Suleiman told Enab Baladi in an earlier interview that there are numerous obstacles to the talks, most notably what he described as a “sectarian current” hostile to the Syrian state, adding that such a current cannot integrate into the new state.

Al-Suleiman explained that the main barrier to implementing the agreement is the struggle between currents inside the SDF, noting the presence of a faction aligned with former regime personnel that has a sectarian character.

He revealed that leaders of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), headed by its leader Cemil Bayik, along with two prominent figures, Duran Kalkan and Murat Karayilan, who are from Turkey and are currently based in Sulaymaniyah in Iraq, are seeking to bolster their influence by relying on sectarian currents backed by remnants of the former Assad regime.

Although this current raises secular slogans, it has a “sectarian bent”, al-Suleiman said. The three leaders from Turkey belong to the same sect as former president Bashar al-Assad, which has reinforced the presence of some 5,000 fighters whom the government labels as “regime remnants” inside the SDF, according to the researcher.

Enab Baladi previously published an in-depth report indicating that at least more than 4,500 former regime personnel have joined SDF, deployed across several locations in the cities of Raqqa and al-Hasakah (both in northeastern Syria).

According to al Suleiman, the current alignment with PKK leader Bayik seeks to “obstruct” the course of negotiations and to pressure other currents that are keen to join the Syrian state.