ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Tuesday said two of their members were injured by a suicide drone as they provided medical aid to civilians in the northern Aleppo province, blaming Damascus for the attack.

The SDF in northeast Syria (Rojava) and Damascus have routinely traded blame for attacks, particularly in Aleppo and Deir ez-Zor provinces. 

“Two of our fighters were injured with varying degrees on Tuesday afternoon as a result of an explosion caused by a suicide drone belonging to factions affiliated with the Damascus government,” the SDF said in a statement. 

Earlier in the day, the SDF-affiliated Ronahi TV accused Damascus-affiliated forces of bombarding Aleppo’s Deir Hafer area with drones. Deir Hafer has witnessed an increase in strikes and shelling in recent months.

“The Damascus government bears full responsibility for this escalation and its consequences, as well as for any direct threat to the security of the region and the lives of civilians,” the SDF stressed. 

It further slammed the attack as a “highly dangerous escalation and a flagrant violation of all international laws and norms,” saying their fighters were targeted while evacuating and providing medical assistance to civilians in Deir Hafer, who were “wounded by shelling conducted by those same factions.” 

The attacks are threatening to dismantle a major agreement signed in March between Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and SDF chief Mazloum Abdi, which calls for the integration of the SDF and institutions in the Kurdish-held northeast into the Syrian state.

The US-backed SDF functions as the de facto army of northeast Syria and played a key role in the territorial defeat of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria in 2019.