Second day of fighting in Aleppo as Syria's interim gov't, Kurdish forces trade blame

DAMASCUS, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Heavy fighting between forces loyal to the interim government in Damascus and Kurdish-led fighters shook Aleppo for a second day on Wednesday, killing at least four people and sending thousands of civilians fleeing.

The violence centered on the Kurdish-majority neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh, signaling a deepening rift between the Damascus authorities and the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The clashes follow the Syrian military's decision to declare the two districts "closed military zones" starting at 3:00 p.m. local time (1200 GMT), a move that triggered a panicked exodus of residents.

The SDF accused Damascus of maintaining a "complete siege" on the neighborhoods for more than six months despite the group's insistence that it poses no military threat to the city.

In a statement, the SDF denied government allegations that it maintains an active military presence in Aleppo, asserting that it had previously withdrawn its combatants and handed security duties to local internal forces under a prior agreement.

The group described claims that it was using the residential areas to launch attacks as "fabricated" justifications for pro-Damascus forces' shelling and blockades.

Damascus rejected this account, arguing that the SDF's own admission of having no military presence proves that security responsibility must fall exclusively under state institutions.

The interim government maintained that recent security measures were not directed at the Kurdish population but were necessary to prevent armed activity and protect Aleppo from renewed instability. It added that the evacuation of civilians was conducted for humanitarian reasons and called on all armed groups to depart the area to avoid further inflaming tensions.

The escalation highlights the fragility of the March 2025 agreement, an internationally brokered deal intended to integrate armed factions and end more than a decade of fragmentation following the civil war. While the SDF has served as the primary U.S. partner against the Islamic State and the former administration under President Bashar al-Assad, it remains under pressure from Türkiye, which views the group as a terrorist organization.

Both the Syrian government and the SDF now accuse one another of seeking to derail the peace process as implementation of the deal stalls. ■