ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United States continues to "support and facilitate" dialogue between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Syrian government following deadly clashes on Monday, an official from the Department of State told Rudaw.
"Ambassador Barrack continues to support and facilitate dialogue between the Syrian government and the Syrian Democratic Forces," said the official in response to an email on Tuesday, referring to US Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack, adding that "The United States calls for restraint on all sides."
The State Department official emphasized that the US-mediated meetings between the SDF and Damascus "focus on the implementation of and recommitment to the March 10 integration agreement between the SDF and the Syrian government."
Following the fall of the long-ruled dictator Bashar al-Assad, SDF commander Mazloum Abdi signed the landmark agreement with Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa on March 10. The deal aims to integrate the civil and military institutions of northeastern Syria's administration (Rojava) into centralized state authority and establish a nationwide ceasefire.
The SDF is the de facto military force in Rojava and has been the primary partner of the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat the Islamic State (ISIS) on the ground in Syria. Damascus recently joined the coalition.
The US official's statement comes a day after clashes broke out between Kurdish Asayish forces - an affiliate of the SDF - and Syrian government troops and allied factions in predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsood and Ashrafiyeh in Syria’s northern city of Aleppo, killing at least two people, including 57-year-old Fadwa Muhammad al-Kurdi, and injuring more than a dozen others.
Among the wounded were a young girl and six members of the Kurdish internal security forces, according to the SDF.
After several hours of heavy fighting, the Syrian government and the SDF agreed to a fragile ceasefire.
"The Syrian government initiated the fighting," said Nouri Sheikho, co-chair of the General Council of the Sheikh Maqsood and Ashrafiyeh neighborhoods, speaking to Rudaw on Tuesday.
He warned that "there is a strong possibility that clashes will resume, and a genocide may occur, as no one is allowed to enter our neighborhoods due to the siege."
Since the collapse of the former Assad regime last year, Kurdish-led forces - which maintain security control over the two densely populated neighborhoods, home to more than 1.5 million people - have repeatedly clashed with the new authorities in Damascus.
Diyar Kurda contributed to this article from Washington DC.
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