ALEPPO: Syrian government forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces exchanged fire Tuesday in a tense area of eastern Aleppo province, marking a possible escalation after days of clashes in the northern city.
No casualties were immediately reported, as an impasse continues in negotiations between the central government and the SDF over merging its thousands of fighters into the national army.
The Syrian army earlier declared an area east of Aleppo as a “closed military zone.” Eastern Aleppo province has been a tense frontline dividing areas under the Syrian government and large swaths of northeastern Syria under the SDF.
In a statement, the SDF said government forces have started shelling Deir Hafer district. The group later said government troops launched exploding drones, artillery and rockets to a village south of Deir Hafer.
Syrian state television later said the SDF targeted the village of Homeima on the other side of the Deir Hafer frontline with exploding drones.
Several days of deadly clashes in Aleppo last week displaced tens of thousands of people. They ended over the weekend with the evacuation of Kurdish fighters from the contested neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsoud. Aleppo Governor Azzam Ghareeb said Damascus now has full control of Sheikh Maqsoud and Achrafieh, where clashes took place.
Syrian officials have accused the SDF of building up its forces near the towns of Maskana and Deir Hafer, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) east of Aleppo city. SANA, the state news agency, reported that the army had declared the area a closed military zone because of “continued mobilization” by the SDF, and accused the group of using the area as a launchpad for drone attacks in Aleppo city.
The army statement said the armed groups should withdraw east of the Euphrates River.
A drone hit the Aleppo governorate building on Saturday shortly after two Cabinet ministers and a local official held a news conference on the developments in the city.
The SDF have denied mobilizing in the area or being behind the attack.
The leadership in Damascus, under interim President Ahmad Al-Sharaa, signed a deal in March with the SDF, which controls much of the northeast, for it to merge with the Syrian army by the end of 2025. There have been disagreements on how it would happen.
Some of the factions that make up the new Syrian army, which was formed after the fall of former President Bashar Assad in a rebel offensive in December 2024, were previously Turkiye-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.
The SDF for years has been the main US partner in Syria in fighting against the Daesh group, but Turkiye considers the SDF a terrorist organization because of its association with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has waged a long-running insurgency in Turkiye. A peace process is now underway.
Despite the long-running US support for the SDF, the Trump administration has also developed close ties with Al-Sharaa’s government and has pushed the Kurds to implement the March deal.
The recent developments have left the SDF and the autonomous administration that runs northeastern Syria frustrated with Washington and accusing Damascus of not implementing its end of the deal.
“The American government needs to clarify its position of the Syrian government which is committing massacres,” the administration’s foreign relations official, Elham Ahmad, told journalists Tuesday. She accused government forces of committing “horrific violations” and alleged that forces affiliated with IS and foreign fighters took part in the clashes.
Shams TV, a broadcaster based in Irbil — the seat of northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region — had been set to air an interview with Al-Sharaa on Monday but later announced it had been postponed for “technical” reasons, without giving a new date for broadcast.
Syrian army and Kurdish forces exchange strikes east of Aleppo
https://arab.news/8pwgz
Syrian army and Kurdish forces exchange strikes east of Aleppo
- This marks a potential escalation after recent clashes in the city of Aleppo
- No casualties have been reported
Cash-strapped Lebanon finds itself sitting on a gold mine, as precious metal prices surge
- Meanwhile, many Lebanese are crowding marketplaces to buy gold and silver in hopes of recovering some of their losses
BOURJ HAMMOUD: Tiny Lebanon sits on one of the largest gold reserves in the Middle East and its government is weighing whether it can use that stockpile to restore a crippled economy while its citizens are looking at gold as a way to protect their battered assets.
Lebanon’s economy hobbled into 2026 with ongoing inflation and state decay and no reforms to combat corruption in sight. Its banks collapsed in late 2019 in a crippling fiscal crisis that evaporated depositors’ savings and plunged about half its population of 6.5 million into poverty, after decades of rampant corruption, waste, and mismanagement. The country suffered some $70 billion in losses in its financial sector, further compounded by about $11 billion in the 2024 war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group.
The price of gold recently soared to an all-time high of $5,354, before dropping back below $5,000, sparked by geopolitical instability and questions surrounding US President Donald Trump’s desire to lower interest rates that would ultimately devalue the dollar. Global central banks have been among the most avid buyers. Silver prices meanwhile have also surged due to industrial demand and the attractiveness of a much cheaper price than gold.
The central bank in Beirut has maintained a reserve of 286 tons of gold — some nine million ounces — since the 1960s. Only Saudi Arabia’s central bank holds more in the region.
The government is considering using some of its gold reserves to bail out the banks and pay back depositors who got wiped out. But doing so would not only go against historical precedent, but also violate a 1980s-era law. Meanwhile, those depositors would like to make up some of their losses by buying gold and silver, hoping that prices will bounce back from the downturn of recent days and hit new highs.
Lebanon’s untouchable asset
At one point the value of Lebanon’s gold reserves reached $50 billion — over double Lebanon’s own GDP. After years of economic crisis, and pushback against meaningful reforms to make the country viable again, some are again raising a sensitive question: Is it finally time to dig into this goldmine?
A senior banking official told The Associated Press that some banks are proposing to dig into the gold reserves to help pay back depositors whose money was lost during the country’s currency crisis, essentially partially bailing out the banks with the country’s only viable public asset. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
Lebanon banned the sale of its gold in 1986 in the middle of the country’s civil war to protect state assets during a time of extreme instability. The gold reserves have never been touched — not after 15-year civil war in 1990, and not after multiple wars with Israel.
Some economists have proposed using a small percentage of the gold, in tandem with wholesale reforms, to fix Lebanon’s ailing electricity sector or to breathe life back into the country’s devastated education and health care system for the public good.
Parliament would have to vote to allow the use of the gold reserves in any capacity. It’s a largely unpopular move that is not expected to be made anytime soon, especially months before general elections. When gold was brought up in a session last week, Speaker Nabih Berri quickly interjected to shut down the conversation. “Not feasible,” he said sternly.
A draft fiscal gap law that offers a framework of returning some depositors’ losses is languishing in parliament amid a debate over who would absorb the losses: Lebanon’s battered banks, largely reluctant to hold themselves accountable, or an indebted and wasteful state.
Most Lebanese distrust the authorities, who for years have dodged implementing meaningful reforms to fight corruption, reduce waste, and improve public services. Given that track record, many say the gold should remain untouched for future generations.
Softening the financial blow
While authorities debate the future of the country’s gold, many Lebanese depositors who lost most of their savings in the banks are now turning to gold and silver to own something more tangible while hoping it might even make up for some of their losses.
Crowds of people were lined up outside of Lebanon’s key metals trader on the northern outskirts of Beirut on a recent day, desperate to get inside and buy gold and silver coins, medallions, and bars.
They no longer trust the banks and are trying to get by in the middle of a messy cash economy beset with uncontrollable inflation and no meaningful reforms on the horizon.
“For those making up for losses, gold is not a safe haven — it’s the only haven,” said Chris Boghos, the managing director of Boghos SAL Precious Metals. Business is booming, as customers are now paying in advance to get their metal months later due to high demand.
Lebanon has had a troubled history in a volatile region, with numerous conflicts and economic shocks, and little trust that the structural issues will change.
“There has always been this propensity for the Lebanese people to go buy up gold in order to hedge against possible inflation, because this is a country that has seen multiple episodes of hyperinflation during its history,” said Sami Zoughaib, an economist at Beirut-based think tank The Policy Initiative.
Zoughaib says it’s an easy shift as well, given the long-tradition in the region of a groom or his family giving gold jewelry to the bride ahead of marriage as her own wealth, even among lower-income families. That tradition still largely continues even as many women have entered the workforce.
Outside one of Beirut’s gold markets Alia Shehade strolls along some of the storefronts. She says as a woman, her gold jewelry collection has made her feel safe in the middle of the financial crisis, referring to an Arabic saying that translates to “an adornment and treasure.”
“If a woman is in a tough situation ... she can sell her gold. And when gold prices go up, then she’s the winner,” she said. But she refuses to sell any of hers.
When looking at the reluctancy to sell gold among both the citizens and the authorities, Zoughaib said, “I think this just tells us just how important that gold is in the psychology of people.”
“They are not even able to imagine a use case for it beyond being a hedge,” he said.
