https://arab.news/cgcct
For those trying to get to grips with the dynamics inside Syria more than a year since Bashar Assad fled the country, recent events in Aleppo, the country’s second-largest city, are arguably more instructive than what is happening inside Damascus. This has featured a conflict between government-linked forces and fighters from the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces.
This was not a full-on war between the Syrian government and the SDF. All sides seem to want to avoid this, for now at least. Hitherto, when government-SDF negotiations are fraught, tensions in Aleppo ratchet up. It is the negotiations continuing by other means.
Who started it and who is responsible comes down almost to a case of which party one believes. Claims and counterclaims have run riot. The sides can agree on very little. “A limited and targeted law-enforcement operation” was the position of the Syrian government.
The drone attack on the Aleppo governorate building was a major step change. It took place during an official government press conference given by three ministers. This was one of several drone attacks in the west and center of the city. The government claimed it was carried out by the SDF, using Iranian-made drones.
