An American patrol returned from Deir Hafer in eastern Aleppo, Syria, to its base without achieving any understandings with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) between 2:46 PM and 3:16 PM UTC on January 16, 2026, according to an X post by @syrianFactCheck, with military operations expected to resume shortly. The update confirms earlier reports of International Coalition forces departing Deir Hafer between 1:46 PM and 2:45 PM UTC after the SDF refused to withdraw, as stated by @Al7khalidi on X. No deal was reached during the US effort to de-escalate tensions between the SDF and Syrian forces. Separately, US Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Representative for Syria Tom Barrack will meet SDF leader Mazloum Abdi in Erbil on Saturday, according to a report cited from Al-Monitor by @BarracudaVol1 on X. The post claims the US established a comprehensive agreement between the Syrian army and the SDF. These developments follow a US-mediated meeting between a Syrian government delegation and Kurdish forces in Deir Hafer earlier on January 16, per @kaisos1987 on X, amid prior incidents including the arrest of an SDF intelligence member and a drone shootdown on the Deir Hafer axis.
