Syrian army renews Aleppo strikes as Kurdish fighters refuse to budge

The Syrian service has launched caller strikes connected Kurdish-held areas successful Aleppo aft Kurdish fighters refused to retreat nether a ceasefire, arsenic much civilians fled their homes to flight the unit successful the bluish Syrian city.

The Operations Command of the Syrian Arab Army announced the commencement of a subject cognition successful the Sheikh Maqsoud neighbourhood of Aleppo connected Friday evening aft a deadline for Kurdish fighters to evacuate the area, imposed arsenic portion of its impermanent ceasefire, expired.

Recommended Stories

• list 1 of 3Heavy warring successful Aleppo, Syria, aft talks with SDF collapse
• list 2 of 3“Very fragile information situation” successful Syria amid rising tensions
• list 3 of 3Aleppo clashes item situation of SDF integration for Syria

Syria’s Ministry of Defence had declared the ceasefire earlier connected Friday, pursuing three days of clashes that erupted aft the cardinal authorities and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) failed to instrumentality a deal to fold the second into the state apparatus.

After immoderate of the fiercest warring seen since past year’s toppling of Bashar al-Assad, Damascus presented Kurdish fighters a six-hour window to retreat to their semi-autonomous portion successful the northeast of the state successful a bid to extremity their longstanding power implicit parts of Aleppo.

But Kurdish councils that tally the city’s Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh districts rejected immoderate “surrender” and pledged to support areas that they person tally since the aboriginal days of the Syria’s war, which erupted successful 2011.

Syria’s service past warned it would renew strikes connected Sheikh Maqsoud and urged residents to evacuate done a humanitarian corridor, publishing 5 maps highlighting targets, with strikes opening astir 2 hours later.

As unit flared, the SDF posted footage connected X showing what it said was the aftermath of artillery and drone attacks connected Khaled Fajr Hospital successful Sheikh Maqsoud, accusing “factions and militias affiliated with the Damascus government” of “a wide warfare crime”.

A Defence Ministry connection cited by the state-run quality bureau SANA said the infirmary was a weapons depot.

In different station connected X, the SDF said that authorities militias were attempting to beforehand connected the neighbourhood with tanks, encountering “fierce and ongoing absorption by our forces”.

Later, the Syrian service said 3 of its soldiers had been killed and 12 injured successful SDF attacks connected its positions successful Aleppo.

It besides claimed that Kurdish fighters successful the neighbourhood had killed much than 10 Kurdish youths who refused to instrumentality up arms with them, past burned their bodies to intimidate different residents.

The SDF said connected X that the claims were portion of the Syrian government’s “policy of lies and disinformation”.

At slightest 22 radical person been killed and 173 others wounded successful Aleppo since the warring broke retired connected Tuesday, the worst unit successful the metropolis since Syria’s caller authorities took powerfulness aft toppling Bashar al-Assad a twelvemonth ago.

The manager of Syria’s civilian defence told authorities media that 159,000 radical had been displaced by warring successful Aleppo.

Mutual distrust

The unit successful Aleppo has brought into absorption 1 of the main faultlines successful Syria, with almighty Kurdish forces that power swaths of Syria’s oil-rich northeast resisting integration efforts by Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s government.

The agreement betwixt the SDF and Damascus was struck successful March past year, with the erstwhile expected to integrate with the Syrian Defence Ministry by the extremity of 2025, ​but Syrian authorities accidental determination has been small advancement since.

Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh person remained nether the power of Kurdish units linked to the SDF, contempt the group’s assertion that it withdrew its fighters from Aleppo past year, leaving Kurdish neighbourhoods successful the hands of the Kurdish Asayish police.

Marwan Bishara, elder governmental expert with Al Jazeera, said determination were important gaps betwixt the 2 sides, peculiarly erstwhile it came to integrating the Kurdish fighters into the service arsenic individuals oregon groups.

“What would you bash with the thousands of pistillate fighters that are present portion and parcel, of the Kurdish forces? Would they articulation the Syrian army? How would that enactment out?” said Bishara.

“The Kurdish are sceptical of the service and however it is formed successful Damascus, and of the cardinal authorities and its intentions. While … the cardinal authorities is, of course, wary of and sceptical that the Kurds privation to articulation arsenic Syrians successful a beardown agreed country,” helium added.

Turkiye refrains from subject action

In the midst of the clashes, Syria’s President al-Sharaa spoke by telephone with Turkish person Recep Tayyip Erdogan, saying helium was determined to “end the amerciable equipped presence” successful Aleppo, according to a Syrian presidency statement.

Turkiye, which shares a 900-kilometre (550-mile) borderline with Syria, views the SDF arsenic an hold of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which waged a four-decade equipped conflict against the Turkish state, and has warned of subject enactment if the integration statement is not honoured.

Turkiye’s Defence Minister Yasar Guler welcomed the Syrian authorities operation, saying that “we presumption Syria’s information arsenic our ain information and … we enactment Syria’s combat against violent organisations”.

Omer Ozkizilcik, nonresident elder chap for the Syria Project successful the Atlantic Council, told Al Jazeera that Turkiye had been intending to motorboat an cognition against SDF forces successful Syria months ago, but had refrained astatine the petition of the Syrian government.

Elham Ahmad, a elder authoritative successful the Kurdish medication successful Syria’s northeast, accused Syria’s authorities of “choosing the way of war” by attacking Kurdish districts successful Aleppo and of trying to extremity deals betwixt the 2 sides.

Alarm spreads

Al-Sharaa spoke with Iraqi Kurdish person Masoud Barzani connected Friday, affirming that the Kurds were “a cardinal portion of the Syrian nationalist fabric”, the Syrian presidency said.

The erstwhile al-Qaeda commandant has repeatedly pledged to support minorities, but government-aligned fighters person killed hundreds of Alawites and Druze implicit the past year, spreading alarm successful number communities.

A spokesperson for the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed “grave concern” implicit the ongoing unit successful Aleppo, contempt efforts to de-escalate the situation.

“We telephone connected each parties successful Syria to amusement flexibility and instrumentality to negotiations to guarantee the afloat implementation of the March 10 agreement,” said Stephane Dujarric.

France’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was moving with the United States, which has agelong been a cardinal backer of the SDF, peculiarly during its combat to oust ISIL (ISIS) from Syria, to de-escalate.

French President Emmanuel Macron urged al-Sharaa connected Thursday to “exercise restraint”, reiterating his country’s tendency to spot “a agreed Syria wherever each segments of Syrian nine are represented and protected”.