Aleppo: 12 die, tens of thousands flee following fresh clashes between government and Kurdish forces
Fighting in Syria’s northern metropolis between the army and YPG forces has entered its third day. The suburbs of Ashrafiyeh and Sheikh Maqsood have been declared "closed military areas”. The authorities imposed a curfew, with one resident calling the situation "terrible and awful”. Turkey offered support to al-Sharaa.
Aleppo (AsiaNews) – For the third consecutive day, deadly clashes have been reported between Syrian government forces and the People's Protection Units (YPG) in Aleppo, with the violence concentrated in largely Kurdish neighbourhoods, which the authorities have declared “closed military areas”.
According to recent reports from the Asayish, Kurdish internal security forces, operations are concentrated in the densely populated suburbs of Ashrafiyeh and Sheikh Maqsood and have already resulted in at least 12 deaths, including civilians, and 57 wounded since Tuesday, with thousands of people on the run.
The pro-Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the army are blaming each other for this new flare-up of violence, accusing the other side of attacking their positions.
The Syrian army announced a new operation for 1:30 pm local time today, while local authorities (loyal to the central government) imposed a curfew in the province.
Speaking to the BBC, a resident described the situation as "terrible and awful," so much so that “All my friends have left for other towns. Sometimes it is calm and suddenly war starts again”.
A displaced person from Ashrafieh, Samer Issa, told Reuters that he was sleeping in a mosque converted into a shelter with his young children.
“The shelling intensified. We left because our children could no longer endure the hits and the shelling," he said, describing the situation as "heartbreaking".
Meanwhile, Turkey has declared its readiness to assist Syria if requested, with the Defence Ministry speaking at a briefing that the Aleppo operation is being "carried out entirely by the Syrian army" without, at least so far, Turkish involvement.
Tensions between the Kurds and the Syrian central government have been running high for a long time. After the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime, the SDF was supposed to join the army, but the agreement was never implemented, and there has been no shortage of mutual accusations over the latest violence.
The government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa blames the casualties on the SDF, the de facto military force in northeast Syria (Rojava).
Pro-Kurdish militias reportedly withdrew from Ashrafiyeh and Sheikh Maqsood last year as part of a nationwide ceasefire agreement signed with Damascus, and yesterday they reiterated that they have no military presence in the neighbourhoods.
That said, despite official statements, Asayish forces are affiliated with the SDF.
The pact reached a few months ago has failed to avert tensions, necessitating further meetings between the parties. The last took place last Sunday, but these meetings, too, failed to deliver tangible results towards peace.
The Syrian state news agency SANA today reported an army statement imposing a curfew on residents of the Ashrafiyeh and Sheikh Maqsood neighbourhoods starting at 1:30 pm local time, as the army intends to intensify its attacks.
The campaign will also extend to the Bani Zaid neighbourhood, another Kurdish-majority area located between the two other neighbourhoods scene of fighting.
The SDF previously released two videos that allegedly show pro-government factions “shelling the densely populated Sheikh Maqsood neighbourhood in the city of Aleppo with heavy artillery”.
Pro-government factions are blamed for “deliberately targeting civilians” and “committing a documented war crime that cannot be justified by any religious or military slogan.”
The Kurdish militia pointed the finger at Damascus-aligned factions who “shelled residential areas in the eastern part of Sheikh Maqsood using tanks and Grad rockets, causing material damage.”
For its part, the Asayish accused “armed factions affiliated with the transitional government” of attacking the al-Shaqif neighbourhood with “a suicide drone”.
Violence in the area had already been reported last October in the aftermath of the first elections since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, a vote albeit limited in terms of territorial scope and voter involvement.
Soon after the polls closed, armed clashes broke out between the SDF and security forces linked to al-Sharaa.
In the following days, the government and the Rojava administration in the predominantly Kurdish area in northeast Syria blamed each other citing "provocations" and tanks movements.
Since the start of the Syrian uprising in the spring of 2011 and the subsequent civil war (which saw the participation of jihadi groups), Kurdish militias have been able to maintain a certain distance that allowed them to avoid becoming directly involved in the war against the central government.
In the past, the regime had entrusted the Kurds with some key points and strategic hubs, such as the international airport in what was once the country's economic and commercial capital.
At the same time, the Kurds have never been openly pro-government, trying to keep above the parties and preferring to control their own sphere of influence.
However, since the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham's (HTS) took power, tensions and fighting have multiplied.
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30/11/2022 14:42
