What is taking place today along the banks of the Euphrates River between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the militia of the Interim Damascus Authority (known as the al-Jolani gangs) cannot be understood as a conventional military confrontation, nor as a conflict arising from an independent sovereign decision. Rather, what is unfolding, in its essence, is part of a complex and dangerous international game aimed at drawing the al-Jolani authority into a new trap and reclassifying it once again within the category of “terrorism,” after intensive attempts to politically recycle it and present it as a party eligible for regional and international integration.
The current field situation stands in stark contradiction to the most basic rules of engagement and the well-known laws of war: a declared withdrawal, at a specified time, under clear titles and guarantees, followed by a sudden attack and the reopening of combat fronts. Such behavior cannot be justified as a field error or a miscalculation of military judgment; rather, it constitutes an extremely dangerous political and security indicator and points to only two possible scenarios, with no third alternative:
Either these militias are not, in practice, subject to the will of the Interim Damascus Authority, and the military decision-making process is fragmented and uncontrolled, governed by dark rooms and networks of interests that transcend any declared political structure;
or the violation of the truce was carried out by ISIS cells or similar extremist forces that have succeeded in infiltrating these armed formations and are working systematically to sabotage any path toward de-escalation, pushing the region toward comprehensive chaos and the perpetuation of conflict.
In both cases, the danger is not confined to a single party. Rather, it lies in transforming the Euphrates into an open arena for settling international scores and in using the ongoing conflict as a tool for reproducing terrorism instead of combating it. Dragging Syria and its peoples into such absurd and destructive scenarios will lead only to further bloodshed and devastation, and to the undermining of what remains of the prospects for reaching a just political solution that guarantees stability and the rights of all components without exception.
We issue a clear warning: playing with fire along the banks of the Euphrates will not burn one party alone—it will burn what remains of Syria. History teaches us that those who are used as tools in international projects are the first to be discarded once their function has ended, no matter how many promises or illusions surround them.
18 / 1 / 2026
Dr. Adnan Bouzan