Every meeting followed by new attack

 Today, a suicide drone operated by factions linked to the transitional government targeted the al-Shaqif area north of Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood in the city of Aleppo. The attack came two days after a meeting between a delegation of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria and the transitional government in Damascus. After each meeting between the two sides, military attacks and media campaigns against the region and its components intensify.

On January 4, during a military and security meeting in Damascus between a delegation of the Autonomous Administration and a delegation of the transitional government, a so-called “Forum of Eastern Region Tribes” was organized in Deir ez-Zor under the auspices of the latter. The move was described as provocative and inciting against the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.

One day after the meeting, on January 5, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced that the city of Deir Hafer had come under shelling by factions affiliated with the transitional government, holding the attacking parties fully responsible for the crimes and their consequences.

Prior to that, the Media and Communications Department of the transitional government had published a report claiming that one of its checkpoints near the city of Deir Hafer had been targeted. The SDF refuted these claims, stating in an official statement: “There are absolutely no activities, movements, or military operations by the Syrian Democratic Forces in that area today.”

On October 20, 2025, a military committee from the Syrian Democratic Forces received a delegation from the transitional government in the city of Tabqa. This was followed by claims from media outlets affiliated with the transitional government alleging the killing of two soldiers and the injury of a third near the Tishreen Dam. The Syrian Democratic Forces categorically denied these allegations, confirming that they had not carried out any operation in the area.

On October 6, 2025, while negotiations were ongoing between the delegation of the Autonomous Administration and the transitional government, factions affiliated with the latter launched an attack using tanks and heavy artillery on the besieged neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh, which had been under siege since September 25. The attack resulted in the martyrdom of a woman and the injury of 19 civilians and six members of the Internal Security Forces.

The attack was followed by a meeting on October 7, 2025, between a delegation of the Autonomous Administration, including General Commander Mazloum Abdi, Co-Chair of the Department of Foreign Relations Ilham Ahmed, and Commander of the Women’s Protection Units Rohlat Afrin, and the head of the transitional government Ahmad al-Sharaa and his Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani in Damascus.

Three days after the meeting, the state-run al-Ikhbariya channel broadcast a report attributed to a “military source,” claiming that three members of armed factions had been injured in a suicide drone strike allegedly carried out by the Syrian Democratic Forces in the village of al-Mariyah in the Deir ez-Zor countryside. The forces once again denied the claim.

Military attacks and media campaigns thus continue to follow every meeting between the delegation of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria and the transitional government in Syria, in a scene that reflects a systematic escalation approach pursued by parties affiliated with the transitional government against the region and its components.

A-H 

ANHA