Syria imposes curfew in Aleppo districts as army, SDF clashes intensify

Authorities in Syria have imposed a curfew in several neighbourhoods of Aleppo city, as clashes intensified between the country’s military and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The Aleppo Internal Security Command said in a statement on Thursday that a curfew was imposed “until further notice” in the neighbourhoods of Ashrafieh, Sheikh Maqsoud, Bani Zeid, al-Siryan, al-Hullok and al-Midan.

“This measure aims to ensure the safety of residents and is part of the ongoing security procedures to maintain order and prevent any violations that could endanger lives and property,” the command said in a statement shared by Syria’s state news agency SANA.

“All movement is strictly prohibited within the neighborhoods covered by this curfew during its enforcement period, with no exceptions.”

More than 100,000 civilians have fled their homes in Ashrafieh and Sheikh Maqsoud since fighting broke out between the Syrian military and the SDF earlier this week, the director of the media department in Aleppo told media.

Rana Issa, 43, whose family fled the Ashrafieh neighbourhood under sniper fire on Thursday, told the AFP news agency that “many people want to leave” but are afraid of being shot.

“We’ve gone through very difficult times,” Issa said. “My children were terrified.”

The clashes come as talks on how to implement a March 2025 agreement to integrate the SDF, which has controlled large swaths of territory in Syria’s north and northeast, into the country’s state institutions faltered.

At least 22 people have been killed and 173 others wounded in Aleppo this week, as the Syrian military accused the SDF of targeting civilian areas with artillery and mortar shells.

The Kurdish-led group has denied the allegations, saying this week’s casualties were caused by “indiscriminate” artillery and missile shelling by factions aligned with the government in Damascus.

Late on Thursday, the Syrian Ministry of Interior said government forces had begun deploying in the Ashrafieh area “following the withdrawal of armed groups affiliated with the SDF”.

“The units have commenced their duties to protect civilians and prevent any violations or signs of disorder, in coordination with the Army units deployed in the neighborhood,” the ministry said in a statement shared by SANA.

Reporting from an Aleppo hospital on Thursday evening, media’s Resul Serdar said the sound of heavy shelling could be heard from the facility as medical workers struggled to treat wounded patients.

“The situation is escalating further and further,” said Serdar, adding that Aleppo is experiencing the “fiercest” fighting since the removal of longtime Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.

“We’re hearing artillery shelling, one after another,” he said.

‘Daunting task’ of reunification

SDF commander Mazloum Abdi (also known as Mazloum Kobani) said the violence in Aleppo has undermined talks with the government in Damascus, led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

“The deployment of tanks and artillery in Aleppo neighbourhoods, the bombing and displacement of unarmed civilians, and attempts to storm Kurdish neighbourhoods during the negotiation process undermine the chances of reaching understandings,” Abdi said in a statement.

Armenak Tokmajyan, a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center think tank, told media that the reintegration of Kurdish-led forces into Syrian state institutions “cannot happen just with force”.

Instead, Tokmajyan said al-Sharaa needs a multipronged approach to bring armed groups into the fold, including an inclusive national framework outlining the direction that post-Assad Syria will take.

“A lot of these armed groups don’t want to lay down their weapons because they don’t know what this state will look like,” he said.

“To be honest, the central government is facing a daunting and very difficult task … to end the fragmentation, and with that, end the instability in Syria and create a relatively unified country.”