The Syrian Defense Ministry said Monday that three soldiers were wounded in an attack by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the Aleppo countryside in northern Syria.
“As part of its ongoing escalation against army positions across different regions of the republic, SDF drones targeted a military police checkpoint near army deployment points in the vicinity of Deir Hafer, east of Aleppo,” the ministry said in a statement.
Damage was also reported to two military vehicles.
The ministry said the Syrian army will respond to the assault “in an appropriate manner,” without giving further details.
The state-run Alikhbaria TV, citing an unnamed military source, said the Syrian army hit the launch points of the SDF drones in the vicinity of Deir Hafir in eastern Aleppo.
The outlet said the army’s response to the attack “will be limited.”
According to the broadcaster, the SDF drone attack resulted in more than six injuries among civilians and military police.
The attack came after Alikhbaria TV reported that meetings were held on Sunday in Damascus with the SDF, attended by its commander Mazloum Abdi, to discuss the implementation of a March 10 agreement.
The broadcaster said the meetings “did not yield tangible results.”
On March 10, the Syrian presidency announced the signing of an agreement for the SDF’s integration into state institutions, reaffirming the country's territorial unity and rejecting any attempts at division.
Syrian authorities say that in the months since, the SDF has not shown any efforts to meet the terms of the agreement.
Senior Turkish and Syrian officials issued a joint warning to SDF during talks in Damascus on Dec. 22, urging it to move quickly toward full integration with the Syrian national army. The warning came days before the year-end deadline set out in the agreement.
The renewed pressure on SDF comes as Türkiye presses ahead with an anti-terrorism campaign at home, following a declaration of a ceasefire by PKK, and its announcement that it would disband and lay down arms. The backbone of the SDF is YPG, which Ankara views as a direct extension of PKK.
Syrian FM taking part in new round of talks with Israel
In another development, a Syrian delegation including Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani was holding a new round of negotiations with Israel on Monday, state news agency SANA reported, the first in several months.
Quoting a government source, SANA said the talks were coordinated and mediated by Washington, adding that the discussions were focused on reaching "a balanced security agreement" between the two countries.
SANA said the negotiations were focused on reactivating a 1974 disengagement agreement and guaranteeing "the withdrawal of Israeli forces" to their positions before the overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.
After Assad's ousting, Israel sent troops into the U.N.-patrolled buffer zone which has separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights for decades.
Israel has also carried out repeated incursions deeper into Syrian territory since then, as well as bombings, and has said it wants a demilitarized zone in the country's south.
Syrian leader appears in public after shootout reports
Also on Monday, Sharaa appeared in a video widely circulated using the country's new currency, after his interior ministry denied reports of a shooting incident at his palace.
For days, social media users have been circulating reports of gunfire on Dec. 30 at the palace, which overlooks the capital.
Earlier on Monday, Syrian authorities denied Sharaa had been targeted in any security incident, while two sources told AFP a shooting took place in Damascus's presidential palace last week.
In a video circulated online on Monday evening, Sharaa was shown buying items from a shop in Damascus using the new Syrian currency, which went into circulation on Jan. 1.
Interior ministry spokesman Noureddine al-Baba said "reports claiming a security incident targeted" Sharaa or other senior figures were "totally baseless".
"We categorically affirm that these claims are entirely false," he said.
A diplomat from a country that supports Syria's new authorities told AFP on condition of anonymity that "a shooting took place at the presidential palace on the evening of Dec. 30".
Separately, Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, told AFP a shooting inside the palace that evening lasted "around 12 minutes" and left several wounded.
Abdel Rahman, whose Britain-based Observatory relies on a network of sources inside Syria, said the incident was caused by "an internal dispute" between individuals at the palace and did not target Sharaa.
The Syrian leader, who appears sporadically, had not been seen in public since he unveiled the country's new currency last Monday.
