Two Syrian soldiers killed by Kurdish forces: ministry

DAMASCUS: Kurdish forces killed two Syrian soldiers in overnight clashes in the country’s northeast, the defense ministry said Thursday, with the Kurds saying they were targeting positions used by the Daesh group.
The ministry said in a statement carried by SANA state news agency that clashes took place after the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) attacked army positions in Raqqa province.
The SDF is the de facto army of the semi-autonomous Kurdish administration that controls swathes of the oil-rich north and northeast.
The Kurdish-led fighters took control of several locations “resulting in the death of two army soldiers and the wounding of others,” the ministry said.
Soldiers then returned fire and retook the positions, it said, adding Damascus held the SDF responsible for the attack.
But the SDF said in a statement its forces were “engaging with several positions that members of the Daesh (IS) terrorist organization have used directly to launch drones toward positions where our troops are stationed.”
The forces played a key role in the fight against IS in Syria, ultimately leading to the jihadists’ territorial defeat in the country in 2019.
“The region has been subjected to a series of attacks this week by factions affiliated with the Damascus government, in parallel with the activity of IS members who have actually used those positions to carry out their terrorist attacks,” the SDF statement said.
It alleged “direct coordination between several Damascus government factions and IS terrorists in targeting our military positions.”
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor gave a higher toll of six government personnel dead.
In March, the SDF signed an agreement with Syria’s new Islamist authorities to integrate Kurdish military and civilian institutions into the central government.
However differences between the two sides have held up the deal’s implementation.
The Kurds have called for decentralization, which Damascus has rejected.