Shafaq News – Damascus

Talks between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the government opened in Damascus on Tuesday, following a night of clashes between Kurdish Asayish units and Syrian army troops in Aleppo.

Shafaq News correspondent reported that SDF Commander Mazloum Abdi arrived in the capital earlier in the day, accompanied by Ilham Ahmed, co-chair of the Autonomous Administration’s Foreign Relations Committee, and Rohlat Afrin, a member of the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) general command.

The talks, according to our correspondent, are being held with transitional President Ahmad al-Sharaa and Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani to discuss security, political, and administrative issues under the March 10 Agreement previously signed between al-Sharaa and Abdi, which seeks to integrate SDF-affiliated civil and military institutions into the framework of the Syrian state.

A source close to the SDF told Shafaq News that the meeting is taking place under US sponsorship, noting that both the US envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, and the head of US Central Command, Admiral Brad Cooper, are expected to join the discussions.

By Tuesday morning, calm had returned to Aleppo after overnight unrest that erupted when government forces closed key roads to the Kurdish-majority neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh, triggering clashes that left at least ten people injured, according to a medical source. The SDF described the closures as “provocations,” accusing army units of advancing with tanks and armored vehicles, while the Syrian Defense Ministry dismissed the accusations as “baseless.”