Syria announces ceasefire after clashes with Kurdish fighters
Syria’s Defence Ministry announced a ceasefire on Friday after three days of clashes between Government forces and Kurdish fighters in the northern city of Aleppo that displaced tens of thousands of people. The statement said the ceasefire was effective at 3 am in the neighbourhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid and gave armed groups six hours to leave the area.
It said departing militants would be allowed to carry their “personal light weapons” and would be provided with an escort to the country’s northeast, which is controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. Aleppo Governor Azzam al-Gharib toured the contested neighbourhoods with an escort of security forces overnight. There was no immediate public response from the SDF, and it was not clear if Kurdish forces in Aleppo had agreed to the deal.
US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack welcomed the announcement in a statement on X and extended “profound gratitude to all parties — the Syrian Government, the Syrian Democratic Forces, local authorities, and community leaders — for the restraint and goodwill that made this vital pause possible.” Barrack said the US was working with the parties to extend the ceasefire beyond the six-hour deadline. Some 142,000 people have been displaced by the fighting, which broke out Tuesday with exchanges of shelling and drone strikes.
Each side has accused the other of starting the violence and of deliberately targeting civilian neighbourhoods and infrastructure, including ambulance crews and hospitals. Kurdish forces said at least 12 civilians were killed in the Kurdish-majority neighbourhoods, while Government officials reported at least nine civilians were killed in the surrounding Government-controlled areas in the fighting. Dozens more on both sides have been wounded.
