Fighting escalated in Syria’s northern city of Aleppo on Wednesday after tens of thousands of residents fled two predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods, the Associated Press reported.
The AP said the military ordered civilians to evacuate the areas of Sheikh Maqsoud and Achrafieh and gave residents until 3 p.m. (1200 GMT) to leave. After the deadline ended, the report said sounds of explosions were heard in both neighborhoods.
The AP reported that more than 46,000 people had been displaced in different areas of the province, citing Aleppo’s Directorate of Social Affairs and Labor. Earlier on Wednesday, the report said clashes and shelling killed seven people in areas controlled by the Kurdish-led and U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces and five others in government-controlled areas, with dozens wounded.
The Syrian Information Ministry said the army would launch “a limited military operation” in Aleppo, according to the AP. The ministry said the operation was in response to SDF attacks on government-held parts of the city, including the commercial center.
The Information Ministry said those attacks in recent months had killed more than 20 civilians and wounded more than 150 others, and resulted in the deaths of more than 25 soldiers, the AP reported. It also said the operation was intended to prevent armed activity within residential areas and stop the neighborhoods from being used to pressure Aleppo city.
In a statement carried in the AP report, the SDF accused government forces of using heavy weapons to attack Sheikh Maqsoud and Achrafieh. The SDF said Kurdish forces were engaging in “fierce resistance to repel” the assault and protect the neighborhoods and their residents.
The AP reported that the government said the Aleppo military operations were aimed at preserving security and safeguarding civilians, including through “full commitment to protecting civilians, ensuring their safety and safeguarding their property,” as published by the state news agency SANA. The report said the evacuations came amid what it described as the deadliest round of recent violence between government forces and Kurdish fighters.
Residents described harsh conditions as they sought shelter. The AP reported that a Kurdish man who left with his wife and four children said the situation inside the two neighborhoods was difficult, including food and drinking water shortages, and that he did not provide his name because he feared repercussions.
The AP reported the man said, “I am ready to stay in a garden in order to protect my children.” The report said he told the AP he was originally from Afrin, which he said was captured by Turkish troops and Turkey-backed gunmen in 2018.
Another resident, Adiba Allo, told the AP that a shell hit her home on Tuesday and forced her to flee with her children. The AP reported she said they received text messages with a telephone number to call if they had no place to stay, and that the situation had been relatively calm since Tuesday evening before intensifying again on Wednesday afternoon.
The latest clashes also unfolded against the backdrop of efforts to merge the SDF with Syria’s national army, with progress described by the AP as limited. The report said Damascus under interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa signed a deal in March with the SDF to merge it with the Syrian army by the end of 2025, and that disagreements over implementation have persisted.
The AP said that in April, scores of SDF fighters left Sheikh Maqsoud and Achrafieh as part of the deal, and that officials from the central government and the SDF met again on Sunday in Damascus but government officials said there was no tangible progress. The report also said some factions in the new Syrian army, formed after the fall of former President Bashar Assad in a rebel offensive in December 2024, were previously Turkey-backed insurgent groups that have clashed with Kurdish forces.
Turkey considers the SDF a terrorist organization due to its association with the Kurdistan Workers Party, according to the AP, even as the report said the SDF has been the main U.S. partner in Syria against the Islamic State group. The AP said a peace process is underway and that the SDF and the Syrian government have accused each other of trying to derail the March agreement.
The AP reported there was no immediate comment from Turkey’s government on the clashes in Aleppo. It said Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party, DEM, called for an end to assaults on Kurdish neighborhoods, saying the attacks violated the March agreement and urging Turkey and other states to support democratization in Syria by halting military operations.