Syria denies deadly attack on village in Aleppo province, blames SDF forces

Syria on Sunday denied targeting a village in Aleppo province a day earlier, blaming Kurdish-led forces for an attack that killed civilians.

A semi-autonomous Kurdish administration controls swathes of north and northeast Syria, including oil and gas fields, with the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces as its de facto army.

In a statement carried by state news agency SANA, the defense ministry said that “our forces detected the launch of rockets from one of the SDF launchers towards the village of Umm Tina.”

It said the reason for the launch was unknown.

“We emphasize our categorical denial” of reports that the army targeted Umm Tina, the statement said, adding that “the side that bombed the villages is the SDF.”

It accused the force of continuing to “systematically target civilians in the east of Aleppo province.”

The SDF in a statement had accused “pro-Turkey factions affiliated with the Damascus government” of carrying out the bombardment on Umm Tina.

It said on X that seven civilians were killed and four others were wounded in the attacks.

After anti-government forces toppled longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year, the new authorities and the SDF in March agreed on a deal on integrating the Kurdish administration’s civil and military institutions into the central government.

But differences between the two sides have held up implementation, and the Kurds have called for decentralization, which Damascus has rejected.