ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Monday accused Damascus-affiliated forces of “indiscriminate shelling” in Aleppo’s Deir Hafer area,  a move the Syrian defense ministry said was a response to an alleged SDF drone attack on their positions earlier.

Tensions rose between the Kurdish-led SDF and the Syrian government on Monday after the Syrian defense ministry accused the SDF of carrying out a drone strike on their positions in Deir Hafer, a claim denied by the Kurdish-led force as a pretext to inflame tensions.

“Our forces affirm their full and legitimate right to defend both our fighters and our people amid the ongoing indiscriminate shelling currently targeting the city of Deir Hafer,” read an SDF statement, accusing Damascus-affiliated Amshat and Hamzat divisions of carrying out the attack.

The Sultan Suleiman Shah and Hamza divisions, colloquially called the Amshat and the Hamzat, are Syrian armed factions with strong ties to Turkey and are regarded as Ankara’s proxy forces. They have been accused by the UN of extrajudicial executions, looting, and sexual and ethnic violence, particularly against Alawites and Kurds.

The Turkey-backed factions were subject to recent UK sanctions in mid-December on charges of committing violence against Syrian civilians.

Meanwhile, the Syrian army claimed that the attack targeted the alleged sites where the Kurdish-led forces carried out a drone strike hours earlier, which led to the injury of at least six soldiers, according to state media, citing a military source.

The SDF, however, denied attacking Syrian security forces positions in Deir Hafer, saying that their forces engaged in no military maneuvers in the area on Monday, and accused the Syrian side’s claims of being “entirely fabricated and suspicious, aimed at creating pretexts and justifying an unwarranted escalation.”

It later added that the development was “unrelated to any military operation,” and was instead “a traffic accident” between a civilian and military vehicle, adding that the incident “was exaggerated and misleadingly portrayed in a blatant attempt to fabricate a baseless security narrative.”

The escalation comes following a high-level meeting on Sunday between an SDF delegation headed by the forces’ chief Mezloum Abdi and officials in Damascus, discussing the implementation of the March 10 agreement concerned with the integration of Kurdish-led units in the country into the Syrian army.

While the Kurdish side asserted that the meeting was held in a “professional and responsible” manner, ensuring “well-considered results,” Syrian sources told state media that it did not lead to any “tangible results.”

The implementation of the agreement has been stalled due to the Kurdish side demanding a democratic integration while Damascus maintains its centralized stance, with frequent clashes between both sides further escalating tensions.