Elham Ahmed, external relations officer for the Autonomous Administration, stated Damascus sent large reinforcements to Deir Hafer and Maskanah in Aleppo countryside over the past hour ending at 2:45 PM UTC on January 15, describing a leak of President Ahmed al-Sharaa's statement as a declaration of war on Kurds, according to the War Observatory-SDF channel. Ahmed said the Autonomous Administration communicated initiatives for calm with Washington and Ankara while awaiting responses, denied accusations of not implementing the March 10 agreement, and noted meetings with Damascus occurred under American-French pressure but the government refused a negotiating body and imposed institutions unilaterally, as posted by the War Observatory-SDF during the reporting window from 1:45 PM to 2:45 PM UTC. She attributed Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh events to international understandings and warned of attempts to ignite Kurd-Arab hostility. A large American convoy arrived from Iraq's Kurdistan Region to northeast Syria, with two U.S. cargo planes landing at Al-Shaddadi base, according to Ugarit News and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights during the same period. The Democratic Union Party (PYD) met with the Kurdish National Council in Syria (ENKS), agreeing to resolve the Kurdish issue via the March 10 agreement through dialogue and prioritizing political discussions before military matters, as reported by Kurdish Front News over the past hour. These statements follow SDF blockages preventing civilians from leaving Deir Hafer east of Aleppo through a government-announced humanitarian corridor earlier on January 15, with some residents crossing on foot via a damaged bridge, according to previous reports from monitors including QalaatAlMudiq.
