Syrian army says controls Aleppo district, Kurdish forces deny claim

ALEPPO, SYRIA: Syria’s army said it had completed a “security sweep” on Saturday of a neighbourhood in Aleppo where it clashed with Kurdish forces, who denied losing control of the area after defying calls to surrender.

Government forces began striking the Sheikh Maqsud district overnight after a deadline elapsed for Kurdish fighters to withdraw during a ceasefire.

AFP correspondents in Aleppo reported that gunfire in the area — the city’s last district still in Kurdish hands — continued into the morning.

The army announced Saturday the “completion of a full security sweep of the Sheikh Maqsud neighbourhood”, while urging residents to stay in their homes due to the continued presence of Kurdish forces.

A military source previously told the official SANA news agency that “a number of SDF members” — a reference to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces — had been arrested during the operation.

But Kurdish forces later said claims that the government now controlled the vast majority of Sheikh Maqsud were “false and misleading”.

They reported street clashes with “government militias”, and characterised the artillery fire as “systematic criminal conduct aimed at spreading terror”.

In a statement posted by the defence ministry, Syria’s army called on “armed elements” to “surrender themselves and their weapons immediately”.

The violence in Syria’s second city erupted after efforts to integrate the Kurds’ de facto autonomous administration and military into the country’s new government stalled.

Since the fighting began on Tuesday, at least 21 civilians have been killed, according to figures from both sides, and tens of thousands have fled Aleppo.

The clashes, some of the most intense since Syria’s new Islamist authorities took power, present yet another challenge as the country struggles to reunify after ousting longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.

Both sides blamed the other for starting the violence in Aleppo.

Early Friday, Syrian authorities announced a window for the Kurdish fighters to leave, but they refused.

In response, Syria’s army warned it would renew strikes on military targets in Sheikh Maqsud and urged civilians to get out ahead of the district’s takeover by security forces.

An AFP correspondent saw residents flee with belongings.

Kurdish forces reported coming under artillery and drone attacks, and claimed on social media to be mounting a “fierce and ongoing resistance”.

The army said three soldiers had been killed by Kurdish fighters, while state television accused them of launching drones at residential areas of Aleppo. A flight suspension at Aleppo airport was extended until late Saturday. APP