The Operations Command of the Syrian Army on Friday issued a call to “Syrian individuals in the SDF organization, both Kurds and Arabs, to defect and head to the nearest point of the army.”

State news agency SANA quoted the command as saying: “Defect from the SDF organization. Your country welcomes you at any time and place. Our problem was and still is with the PKK terrorist militias and remnants of the bygone regime, who aim to target the people and destroy Syrian society. Hurry up and defect from this organization and return to your state and your people.”

For its part, the SDF responded, calling the Syrian Ministry of Defense’s statements “an attempt to create division and sow sedition that will not change the facts on the ground.”

Tom Barrack 

Meanwhile, U.S. Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack renewed efforts to calm tensions and resume talks between the Syrian government and the SDF to implement the March 10th agreement.

Barrack said: “The United States remains in close contact with all parties in Syria, working around the clock to calm the situation, prevent escalation, and return to integration talks between the Syrian government and the SDF.”

On Jan. 9, Barrack emphasized “the necessity of implementing the March 10th agreement” and welcomed the ceasefire in the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods of Aleppo.

Civilians take dangerous routes as SDF blocks humanitarian corridor
Residents of Deir Hafir and Maskana in eastern rural Aleppo have resorted to dangerous paths after the SDF prevented their exit through the humanitarian corridor announced by the Syrian Army’s Operations Command, according to SANA.

The Syrian Civil Defense, part of the Ministry of Emergency and Disaster Management, has for the second consecutive day been providing assistance and transporting families, seniors, and patients. The residents who managed to leave SDF-controlled areas faced “significant difficulties,” including navigating agricultural lands and hazardous areas littered with mines, and crossing a destroyed bridge over a watercourse to reach safe zones.