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Last week's events in eastern Aleppo serve as a chilling reminder of how fragile Syria’s path to peace remains. Reports confirm that the PKK-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) launched rockets at Syrian Arab Army positions near the village of Umm Tina.
The Syrian Army retaliated, destroying a rocket launcher. But the real tragedy lies not in the military exchange but in the human cost: seven civilians—five women and two children—killed in their homes.
This was not an isolated skirmish. It was a deliberate escalation. It was unprovoked aggression.
And it strikes at the very heart of the March 2025 Agreement—the landmark deal between interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and SDF head Mazloum Abdi, which was supposed to end fragmentation and lay the foundation for a united Syrian state.
Back in March, optimism ran high. After more than a decade of war, Syria’s interim leadership and the SDF reached an agreement: the SDF would integrate into the Syrian state, its forces would merge into the national army, and its parallel political structures would be absorbed into state institutions.
In return, Damascus guaranteed constitutional protections for Kurds and other minorities, signaling that the future of Syria would be one of inclusion, not exclusion.
This was not about erasing identities or diminishing communities. It was about building one state under one flag, where oilfields, airports, and border crossings were no longer the property of militias but assets managed for the benefit of all Syrians.
It was about closing the chapter of fragmentation and opening a new era of sovereignty, stability, and reconstruction.
Yet months later, the SDF has dragged its feet. Instead of implementing the deal, it has resisted integration, clung to oil revenues, and continued to operate as a semi-autonomous militia.
Yesterday’s rocket attack is the most blatant act of defiance yet—a direct assault on the trust that Syrians and the international community placed in that agreement.
What does the SDF achieve by firing rockets into civilian areas? Absolutely nothing, beyond deepening the suffering of the Syrian people and undermining its own credibility. These attacks do not strengthen the SDF’s bargaining position.
They expose its weakness. They show that, when cornered politically, the SDF falls back on violence rather than dialogue.
And the cost is borne not by commanders in safe offices, but by villagers like those in Umm Tina.
Families are shattered, homes reduced to rubble, and children buried under the weight of a war they never chose. Every attack like this alienates ordinary Syrians—Arabs, Kurds, Druze and Turkmen alike—who want nothing more than peace and a chance to rebuild their lives.
Let us be honest: the SDF does not represent all Syrian Kurds, and it certainly does not represent the Arabs who form the majority in the northeast.
Its claim to authority is built on wartime necessity and foreign backing, not on democratic legitimacy or national consensus.
By resisting integration, it alienates itself not only from Damascus but also from the very population it claims to defend.
The timing of this escalation is no coincidence. Within days, President Erdogan will meet President Trump at the White House, where Syria will undoubtedly feature in discussions. President al-Sharaa is also preparing for high-level talks at the United Nations, most likely with even President Trump.
Syria’s legitimacy is being restored step by step: sanctions are easing, embassies are reopening, and international actors are acknowledging the centrality of Damascus in any solution.
For the SDF, this is a dangerous reality. Their leverage is shrinking. Their foreign backers are recalibrating. Their room to maneuver is narrowing. And so, desperate to stay relevant, they fire rockets and blame others. It is a strategy of sabotage, designed to derail Syria’s reintegration into the regional and global order. But it is a strategy doomed to fail.
The world is moving on. Türkiye has made clear that it will not tolerate a PKK enclave on its border. The United States has signaled that it is willing to engage with Damascus directly on counterterrorism and security.
Regional powers—from Riyadh to Cairo—are extending recognition to al-Sharaa’s government. In this landscape, the SDF’s refusal to honor the March Agreement isolates them further with each passing day.
Syria has survived worse. It has endured a brutal civil war, Daesh terrorism, foreign interventions, and crushing sanctions. The Syrian state did not collapse then, and it will not collapse now. The idea that a militia—however well armed—can hold the nation hostage is a dangerous illusion!
Damascus has been clear: lawlessness will not be tolerated. The March Agreement is not optional. It is the framework for peace, and it must be honored. If the SDF refuses to abide by its commitments, it will face the political, diplomatic, and, if necessary, military consequences.
But let us not mistake firmness for hostility. The Syrian leadership is not demanding submission—it is offering integration. It is not calling for revenge—it is calling for unity. The SDF still has a chance to choose wisely.
By fulfilling the March Agreement, it can secure a dignified place in Syria’s future. By continuing its provocations, it risks becoming an enemy not just of the state, but of the people.
The massacre in Umm Tina should be the turning point. Seven coffins now bear witness to the futility of violence.
How many more will it take? Syria’s children have already suffered enough. Villages have been emptied, cities destroyed, and millions displaced. The Syrian people are weary of war. They do not want more rocket attacks.
They do not want more funerals. They want to rebuild, to farm, to trade, to study, and to live in peace.
The path forward is clear. The SDF must abandon its illusions of autonomy, respect the March Agreement, and accept its place within a sovereign Syrian state! Damascus, for its part, must continue to implement the guarantees it promised, ensuring that Kurds and all minorities are protected and included.
The international community must stop indulging militias and start supporting the only framework that can deliver lasting stability: one Syria, under one flag.
History will remember this moment. It will remember whether the SDF chose aggression or integration, whether it chose to be a spoiler or a partner. And it will remember whether Syria seized this fragile chance for unity or allowed it to slip away.
The choice before the SDF is stark. Continue on the path of defiance, and they will face isolation, defeat and the condemnation of history.
Or embrace the path of peace, and they will help to build a Syria where every citizen—Arab, Kurd, Turkmen, Assyrian—has a stake in the nation’s future.
For the sake of the mothers of Umm Tina, for the sake of every Syrian child who deserves to grow up in peace, the time for games is over. It is time for the SDF to choose unity. Syria deserves nothing less.
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