Orientul Mijlociu

Clashes have continued between the Syrian army and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) along the Tishreen Dam axis (eastern Aleppo governorate) since the morning of Sunday, 18 January, marking a new field escalation in the area.

A military source told Enab Baladi that the fighting has been accompanied by exchanges of shelling and the use of heavy weapons, noting that Syrian army units have deployed tanks and armored vehicles toward the dam’s surroundings as part of an ongoing military operation.

SDF commander Mazloum Abdi said his efforts to work toward de-escalation and a ceasefire continue, with the help of international parties, calling on “the people to rally around their sons, our fighters, and show courage and faith,” as he put it.

In an interview with the Kurdish Hawar News Agency, published today, Sunday 18 January, Abdi said “the Kurdish neighborhoods in Aleppo have been subjected to systematic attacks since 6 January.”

The US-backed, Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) capitulated to the Syrian government in a ceasefire agreement on January 18.[1] The government compelled the SDF to agree after a combination of government operations and tribal uprisings caused the SDF to withdraw from nearly half of its territory and most of the heavily Arab areas.[2] The ceasefire agreement cedes all of Deir ez Zor and Raqqa provinces to the government, effective immediately.[3] Hasakah Province will integrate into the Syrian state over time.[4] The government will control the ISIS detention facilities and al Hol internally-displaced persons (IDP) camp, which holds many ISIS supporters.[5] The SDF will integrate its military forces into the Syrian Ministry of Defense as individuals — a major concession that SDF leaders have been refusing because it leaves Kurdish areas without a reliable defense force of their own.[6] Kobani will have a security force that is formed from the city’s residents.[7] This ceasefire represents a capitulation by the SDF, which has resisted these long-standing demands of the Syrian government.[8] This is a significant defeat for SDF moderates such as SDF commander Mazloum Abdi and civilian leader Ilham Ahmed, both of whom supported prior ceasefires in Aleppo but were thwarted by hardliners who were close to the PKK.

Is the new Turkish-Saudi-Pakistani defense pact an attempt at an Islamic NATO or a strategic self-sabotage?

Excerpt

The idea of a budding “Islamic NATO” under Turkey, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia might seem bold and fresh in a period of Middle Eastern “realignment.” But don’t dismiss it out of hand as the emergence of a symbolic new regional alliance: the trilateral convergence risks creating conflicting security commitments. In the event that a pact is signed, NATO’s southern flank might face strategic incoherence if Ankara’s obligations were to diverge from the alliance’s priorities, challenging coordination with Washington and European partners.

The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria commented on Saturday, 17 January 2026, on a decree issued by Syria’s transitional president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, regarding Kurdish rights in Syria.

It said the decree could be considered a first step, but that it does not meet the aspirations and hopes of the Syrian people, who have made great sacrifices and waged a real revolution to obtain their legitimate rights and build a democratic state where everyone can live a free and dignified life based on justice and equality.

Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Masoud Barzani discussed the situation in Syria and prospects for resolving the Kurdish cause with Mazloum Abdi, commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), during a meeting on Wednesday.

Recent clashes between Damascus and the Kurdish forces in Aleppo highlight the risk that stalling integration talks may trigger broader violence.

Since its signing on March 10, no tangible progress has been made on the eight-point agreement between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Syrian Interim Government to facilitate SDF integration into the Interim Government’s armed forces. Instead, the talks have run past the agreement’s provision for implementation to be reached by the end of 2025, and violence between the two sides quickly unfolded in Aleppo once the talks stalled after the deadline.

As protests grow, regime leaders have no clear options for scaring Iranians off the streets, intimidating foreign powers, or escaping their wider strategic crisis.

For all the military weapons remaining in the Iranian regime’s arsenal, it has finally been deprived of the one that authoritarians rely upon most: fear. For almost five decades, the Iranian regime has brutally repressed its own people while sowing mayhem in the Middle East and beyond. But the regime may have finally entered a strategic crisis from which it will not be able to escape.