Aleppo school picks up the pieces after SDF fight with Syria’s army

Civilians cautiously instrumentality to Aleppo neighborhoods aft the Syrian service secures areas deed by the struggle with SDF.

Aleppo, Syria – Spent slug ammunition casings litter the classrooms and corridors of Qassem Amin schoolhouse successful Aleppo’s Ashrafieh neighbourhood. Desks barricade the stairwells; solid from shattered windows crunches underfoot.

The school’s playground turned into a battleground past week, arsenic it sat connected the beforehand enactment of fierce warring betwixt fighters from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Syrian authorities forces.

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SDF snipers had commandeered the apical level of the schoolhouse 5 months earlier, portion classes continued below, schoolhouse unit explained.

“It was precise wrong,” said the school’s caput teacher, Ouafa Zein al-Dein, “especially for the children”.

“We ne'er interacted with them, ne'er adjacent spoke to them,” Zein al-Dein said of the SDF fighters. “I ne'er fto anyone adjacent them.”

On January 6, the time warring started, the school’s pupils had conscionable sat down for exams. They ne'er finished them. When Zein al-Dein heard the archetypal explosions, she rapidly sent the children home.

Bullet casings and shattered solid were near down aft the warring betwixt the SDF and the Syrian authorities successful Aleppo’s Qassem Amin schoolhouse [Bernard Smith/Al Jazeera]

SDF strongholds

At slightest 155,000 radical fled Ashrafieh and Sheikh Maqsoud, the predominantly Kurdish Aleppo neighbourhoods wherever the warring took place.

The areas had been controlled by the SDF for 10 years.

Last March, the SDF agreed to merge with the Syrian service aft a gathering betwixt the group’s leader, Mazloum Abdi (also known arsenic Mazloum Kobani), and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa. It was portion of a broader woody to bring each SDF-controlled areas of Syria nether the power of the caller government, which took powerfulness aft the autumn of the authorities of erstwhile President Bashar al-Assad successful December 2024.

But the integration of the SDF into the authorities ne'er happened.

The 5 days of aggravated warring that broke retired past week only ended erstwhile SDF forces agreed to withdraw. They lone did so, they said, to halt the Syrian service targeting civilian buildings, accusations the Syrian service denies. The SDF itself is accused of hitting civilian targets, an accusation it besides denies.

Residents person been returning to the areas of Ashrafieh and Sheikh Maqsoud successful Aleppo aft the SDF withdrew pursuing warring with the Syrian authorities [Bernard Smith/Al Jazeera]

Civilians return

The Syrian authorities is present allowing residents to instrumentality to astir of the areas deed by past week’s fighting.

In the freezing rainfall connected Monday, families were yet allowed backmost into Sheikh Maqsoud’s warren of tightly packed streets. A spider’s web of energy cables hung crossed the tops of the three- and four-floor factual and breeze-block homes that marque up this neighbourhood.

“Someone from the SDF wanted to usage my location to occurrence from,” said 1 man, Abu Walid, arsenic helium reopened his supermarket connected the main roadworthy moving done Sheikh Maqsoud.

“I stopped them by saying the location had been affected by the [2023] earthquake. I asked him, ‘What astir the lives of civilians?’ He told maine it didn’t matter; what mattered is that we stay present arsenic the ones successful control.”

After the SDF withdrew astatine the extremity of past week, Syrian service information forces searched the neighbourhood for booby traps and weapons.

They were besides looking for prisoners taken during the autumn of the al-Assad regime. At the time, the SDF was allied with the regime, and civilian activists and absorption fighters had been arrested if they were stopped astatine SDF checkpoints.

The Syrian service is present afloat successful power of these 2 neighbourhoods.

But the SDF has not disappeared. It is inactive successful power of Syria’s northeast and reportedly regrouping immoderate units successful the countryside, conscionable 50km (31 miles) eastbound of Aleppo.