Syria blames Kurdish-led force for deadly bombardment in north

Syria on Sunday denied targeting a village in Aleppo province a day earlier, instead blaming Kurdish-led forces for the attack.

A semi-autonomous Kurdish administration controls swathes of north and northeast Syria, including oil and gas fields, with the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces as its de facto army.

The Deir Hafer area is controlled by the SDF but located along the front lines between the Syrian army and the force, and periodic clashes take place in the area, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman had told AFP.

In a statement carried by state news agency SANA, the defence ministry said that "our forces detected the launch of rockets from one of the SDF launchers towards the village of Umm Tina".

It said the reason for the launch was unknown.

"We emphasise our categorical denial" of reports that the army targeted Umm Tina, the statement said, adding that "the side that bombed the villages is the SDF".

It accused the force of continuing to "systematically target civilians in the east of Aleppo province".

The SDF, in a statement, had accused "pro-Turkey factions affiliated with the Damascus government" of carrying out the bombardment on Umm Tina.

After rebel forces toppled longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year, the new authorities and the SDF in March agreed on a deal on integrating the Kurdish administration's civil and military institutions into the central government.

But differences between the two sides have held up implementation, and the Kurds have called for decentralisation, which Damascus has rejected.