Takeover comes after days of fighting in neighborhoods with a Kurdish population and the evacuation of hundreds of fighters to autonomous regions administered by this minority
On Sunday (11), the Syrian government secured control of , in the north of the country, after days of fighting in neighborhoods with a Kurdish population and the evacuation of hundreds of fighters to the autonomous regions administered by this minority. The clashes, the most violent in Syria’s second largest city since the fall of the president in December 2024, weaken the precarious transition process in a country marked by almost 14 years of civil war. These clashes come at a time when negotiations to implement an agreement reached in March 2025, which seeks to integrate the civil and military institutions of the Kurdish autonomous administration, are at a standstill.
After refusing for long hours to surrender, Kurdish fighters entrenched in their last stronghold of Sheikh Maqsud left Aleppo overnight, boarding buses headed northeast. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced the withdrawal of its fighters from the two districts where they were entrenched in the city of Aleppo.
“We reached an agreement that led to a ceasefire and allowed the evacuation of martyrs, wounded, arrested civilians and fighters from the Ashrafieh and Sheikh Maqsud neighborhoods to northern and eastern Syria,” the SDF announced in a statement. The official Syrian news agency Sana confirmed that “the buses carrying the last group of SDF members left the Sheikh Maqsud neighborhood of Aleppo.”
The agreement was reached “thanks to the mediation of international actors to put an end to the attacks and violations committed against our people in Aleppo”, declared the SDF. Hours earlier, the United States urged the Syrian government and Kurdish forces to resume dialogue after fighting forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes in Aleppo.
In total, Syrian forces evacuated 419 fighters from Aleppo, 59 of them injured, an Interior Ministry official told AFP on condition of anonymity, as well as “dead people”, the number of which was not specified.
‘Promises of revenge’
Six hours away, in the Kurdish city of Qamishli (northeast), hundreds of people greeted the fighters with anger and promises of revenge, according to an AFP team at the scene. “We will avenge Sheikh Maqsud, we will avenge our martyrs,” said Oum Dalil, a 55-year-old woman. Among the crowd, it was possible to hear slogans against Syrian President Ahmed al Sharaa.
American envoy Tom Barrack was also the target of criticism after visiting Al Sharaa the day before in Damascus and calling for “moderation” and an end to hostilities. Another 300 Kurds were arrested in Aleppo, according to the head of the Interior Ministry, who did not give details about their identity.
On Saturday, a correspondent had seen dozens of young men in plainclothes sitting on the ground in the custody of Syrian forces, before being escorted to some buses headed to an unknown destination.
‘Houses looted’
In the Ashrafieh neighborhood, the first of two Kurdish strongholds to fall into the hands of the Syrian Army, residents were able to return to their homes this Sunday after a search by security forces. “We found holes in the walls and our houses were ransacked,” lamented Yahya al Soufi, a 49-year-old clothing seller. “Now that calm has returned, we will carry out repairs and restore water and electricity,” he added.
Another area of Sheikh Maqsud, where the most violent fighting occurred, remains prohibited from access for now. The fighting in Aleppo brought back memories for residents of the civil war years, when intense clashes pitted the eastern part, in the hands of rebels, against the western sector controlled by government forces.
The Syrian Army took control of the entire city of Aleppo in December 2016 and forced opponents and their families to evacuate to what was then the rebel stronghold of Idlib, in the northwest. Since the fall of Bashar al Assad, Islamist power has committed to protecting minorities.
However, the fighting in Aleppo is the third episode of violence involving minorities, following massacres of Alawites on the coast in March and clashes with the Druze in the south in July.
The Kurds, who took advantage of the chaos of the civil war (2011-2024) to take control of large territories in the north and northeast of Syria – including oil and gas fields -, have as their main demand a decentralized governance system.
*With information from AFP
