Eurasia Press & News
Units of the Syrian army have surrounded the Kurdish-majority neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh in Aleppo, marking the latest escalation after a series of clashes between Syrian government forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which control 30 percent of Syrian territory, and the Asayish, the SDF-affiliated internal security force.
“The Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh neighborhoods are considered closed military zones after 3:00 pm today, and we urge our civilian residents to stay away from the positions of the SDF,” the Syrian army’s operations authority announced on January 7. It also stated, “Security and stability will soon be restored in the Ashrafiyeh and Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhoods in a manner deemed appropriate to protect residents from the abuses of the SDF.”
A local source claimed that over “200,000 civilians have left the neighborhoods of Aleppo” following the Syrian government’s closure of the two neighborhoods.
The SDF issued a statement declaring that the “Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh neighborhoods will remain fortresses of steadfastness and unbreakable bastions,” adding that the resistance would continue “until the protection of the land, the people, and dignity,” a signal urging residents of the two neighborhoods to resist the advance of Syrian government forces.
Both parties have exchanged accusations over attacks in Aleppo over the past 24 hours. Syrian government sources reported that the SDF “targeted residential neighborhoods in Aleppo, using mortars and snipers to target roads.” The SDF claimed that Syrian government factions carried out several attacks using “tanks and armored vehicles, which were repelled by internal security forces with the support of local residents.”
The two areas had witnessed intense clashes between government forces and the SDF on January 6. The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) claimed that one Syrian soldier and three others were wounded in an attack by the SDF. SANA also reported that three civilians were killed by SDF shelling of a residential area. However, the SDF denied responsibility for the shelling that killed the civilians and claimed that Syrian government forces attacked residential areas adjacent to the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood.
Tensions between the Syrian government and the SDF have previously escalated in Aleppo. On October 6, Syrian troops clashed with SDF units in Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh. The confrontation began after government personnel said they had discovered a tunnel allegedly used to smuggle weapons into the two neighborhoods. A ceasefire was brokered the following day, on October 7, with the United States mediating between the two sides.
The ongoing instability in Aleppo comes at a moment when negotiations between the Syrian government and the SDF have reached their lowest point following both sides’ failure to agree on an implementation mechanism for integrating the SDF into the Syrian state under the March 2025 agreement signed by Syrian President Ahmad al Sharaa and SDF commander Mazloum Abdi. That deal, which was supposed to be implemented by the end of 2025, has stalled.
A Syrian military attempt to assert full control over the two neighborhoods would likely push both parties toward a full-scale conflict and expand the fighting beyond Aleppo to other contested areas.
