Syrian security forces enter Aleppo neighbourhood
Syrian security forces began deploying on Saturday in a neighbourhood in the northern city of Aleppo after days of intense clashes with Kurdish fighters that killed and wounded dozens. Syria’s state news agency SANA reported that two Kurdish fighters blew themselves up in the middle of security forces without inflicting casualties, as gunfire was still heard in the neighbourhood of Sheikh Maqsoud around noon Saturday. Since the early hours, Syrian security forces were sweeping the neighbourhood after calling on residents to stay home for their own safety.
Hundreds of people who fled the neighbourhood days earlier were waiting at Sheikh Maqsoud’s entrances to be allowed in once the military operations were over. Clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish northern neighbourhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid, after the Government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge their forces into the national army.
Security forces have since captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid. The five days of fighting killed at least 22 people. Kurdish forces said at least 12 civilians were killed in the Kurdish-majority neighbourhoods, while Government officials reported at least 10 civilians were killed in the surrounding government-controlled areas.
The fighting also displaced more than 140,000 people. Syria’s Information Minister Hamza al-Mustafa told state TV that Kurdish fighters used civilian buildings, including hospitals and clinics, during the fighting. Each side has accused the other of starting the violence and of deliberately targeting civilian neighbourhoods and infrastructure, including ambulance crews and hospitals.
The Kurdish-led Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, which controls much of Syria’s northeast, said that security forces targeted Khaled Fajr Hospital in Sheikh Maqsoud, putting the lives of patients and paramedics in danger. It called on the international community to intervene to force Government forces to stop shelling. State TV reported that at least one security member was wounded when a drone fired by the SDF struck the neighbourhood. Associated Press journalists said bursts of gunfire could be heard as government-deployed drones flew over Sheikh Maqsoud.
The Syrian military declared the neighbourhood a “closed military zone” since Friday night as it launched a “clearing operation.” In Jordan, state media reported that Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi discussed the developments in Syria with US Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack in Amman. Jordan offered support to efforts aimed at consolidating the ceasefire and the peaceful withdrawal of Kurdish fighters from Aleppo, media reported. A Syrian police convoy gathers in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo.
