SDF

Residents start returning to areas previously controlled by SDF fighters after their withdrawal from the city.

Syrian government forces have been carrying out security sweeps in the city of Aleppo after days of battles with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

As some residents displaced by the fighting began returning to their areas, army forces on Monday were working to remove explosive devices and weapons in other parts.

The operation comes after the last SDF fighters left Aleppo on Sunday following a ceasefire deal that allowed evacuations from the Ashrafieh and Sheikh Maqsoud neighbourhoods to parts of northeastern Syria, where the Kurdish-led forces run a semi-autonomous zone.

The intense fighting that erupted last week was linked to stalled negotiations over the integration of Kurdish-run institutions and SDF fighters into the Syrian state following an agreement reached between both sides in March last year.

Residents of Ashrafieh, the first of the two neighbourhoods to fall to the Syrian army, began returning to their homes to inspect the damage, finding shrapnel and broken glass littering the streets on Sunday.

“Most people are returning to Ashrafieh, and they have begun to rebuild as there has been a lot of destruction,” said Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith, reporting from Aleppo.

He added that this was not the case for Sheikh Maqsoud, where government forces were still searching for explosives.

Smith added that Syrian forces were also looking for opposition prisoners arrested by the SDF during the rule of former leader Bashar al-Assad, who was overthrown in December 2024 by forces led by the incumbent, Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Deadly clashes

SDF leader Mazlum Abdi said on X the fighters were evacuated “through the mediation of international parties to stop the attacks and violations against our people in Aleppo”.

Abdi, in his statement, called on “the mediators to abide by their promises to stop the violations”.

US envoy Tom Barrack met al-Sharaa on Saturday and afterwards issued a call for a “return to dialogue” in accordance with the integration agreement.

The departure of the fighters marks the removal of SDF from pockets of Aleppo, which it has held since Syria’s war began in 2011.

“Even though the SDF has been bussed to its stronghold in northeastern Syria, this has still played out well for the government in Damascus,” said Al Jazeera’s Ayman Oghanna, reporting from the capital, calling it a “strategic victory” for Syria’s new leadership.

Still, he added, the government has been eager to promote a message of national unity. “They call the events in Aleppo a limited law enforcement operation, instead of open war with the SDF, so they’re really pushing for the integration and unity for Syria.”

Syrian health authorities said on Sunday at least 24 civilians have been killed and 129 wounded in SDF attacks since Tuesday.

Munir al-Mohammad, media director at Aleppo’s health directorate, said the casualties were caused by repeated attacks targeting civilian areas, according to Syria’s official SANA news agency.

The United Kingdom-based monitor, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which follows the developments in Syria through a network of sources on the ground, reported 45 civilians were killed along with 60 soldiers and fighters from both sides.

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

Aleppo governor says the last fighters from the SDF have left the city after the Syrian army took control of the Sheikh Maqsoud neighbourhood.

The last fighters from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have left the city of Aleppo, according to officials, following a ceasefire deal that allowed evacuations after days of deadly clashes.

Aleppo Governor Azzam al-Gharib told Al Jazeera early on Sunday that Aleppo has become “empty of SDF fighters” after government forces coordinated their withdrawal on buses out of the city overnight.

SDF commander Mazloum Abdi (also known as Mazloum Kobani) said the group had reached an understanding through international ⁠mediation on a ceasefire and the safe evacuation of civilians and fighters.

“We have reached an understanding that leads to a ceasefire and securing the evacuation of the dead, the wounded, the stranded civilians and the fighters from the Ashrafieh and Sheikh Maqsoud neighbourhoods to northern and eastern Syria,” he said in a post on X.

“We call on the mediators to adhere to their promises to stop the violations and work towards a safe return for the displaced to their homes,” he added.

The development came after the Syrian army took over the Kurdish-majority neighbourhood of Sheikh Maqsoud following days of clashes that broke out when talks to integrate the SDF into the national army collapsed.

At least 30 people were killed in the clashes, while more than 150,000 were displaced.

More soon…

Civilians were seen fleeing several northern Aleppo neighbourhoods en masse as the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and the Syrian military escalate their fighting after a breakdown in integration talks. Estimates vary widely, but some have placed the number of evacuees at more than 100,000.

A deal penned in March stipulated that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) would integrate with state institutions by the end of the year, but its implementation has since stalled.

Syrian government officials have held talks with the commander of the main Kurdish-led force in the country over plans to merge it with the national army, state media reported, adding that no “tangible results” had been achieved.

The Kurdish-led and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said in a statement on Sunday that a delegation led by top commander Mazloum Abdi (also known as Mazloum Kobani) held talks with government officials in Damascus related to the military integration process.

A major sticking point has been whether the SDF would remain a cohesive unit in the new army or whether it would be dissolved and its members individually absorbed. The group has tens of thousands of fighters and is the main force yet to be absorbed into Syria’s military.

State TV said the meeting did not produce “tangible results” and that the sides agreed to hold further meetings at a later date.

The leadership in Damascus under President Ahmed al-Sharaa inked a deal in March with the SDF, which controls large swathes of Syria’s oil-rich north and northeast. The Kurdish-led force was to merge with the Syrian army by the end of 2025, but there have been disagreements on how it would happen.

The deal also would bring all border crossings with Iraq and Turkiye, as well as airports and oil fields in the northeast, under the central government’s control. Prisons holding about 9,000 suspected members of the ISIL (ISIS) group are also expected to come under government control.

Turkiye considers the SDF a “terrorist” organisation because of its association with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has waged a decades-long armed conflict on its soil, although a peace process is now under way.

Ankara sees the presence of Kurdish forces on its border as a security threat and has publicly called for them to be integrated into the state, but not as a single unit.

The SDF insists on a decentralised system of governance that would allow it to maintain its influence in the areas it controls. Tensions between the SDF and the government – which opposes calls for decentralisation – have occasionally led to violence.

In late December, clashes broke out between security forces and SDF fighters in the northern city of Aleppo during a visit to Syria by Turkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.

Last month, Fidan urged the SDF to not be an obstacle to Syria’s stability and warned that patience with the group was running out.

At least two people killed in clashes in northern city of Aleppo during Turkish FM Fidan’s visit to Syria.

Syrian government forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces agreed to stop fighting in the northern city of Aleppo, after a wave of attacks left at least two civilians dead.

Syria’s state news agency SANA cited the defence ministry as saying that the army’s general command issued an order to stop targeting the SDF’s fighters after the deadly clashes erupted during a visit by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.

Fidan, whose country views the SDF, which controls swathes of northeastern Syria, as a ‘terrorist’ organisation, said on Monday that the SDF appeared to have no intention of honouring its pledge to integrate into the state’s armed forces by an agreed year-end deadline.

Following the SANA report on Monday evening, the SDF said in a later statement that it had issued instructions to stop responding to attacks by Syrian government forces following de-escalation contacts.

More to follow.

At least two people have been killed in clashes in Aleppo between Syrian government forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that control the country’s northeast. Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa signed a deal in March with the SDF to integrate the group into the country’s state institutions by the end of this year.