Syrian security forces began deploying Saturday in a neighborhood of Aleppo after days of intense clashes with Kurdish fighters, leaving dozens of people dead and injured, the Associated Press reported. The fighting included multiple drone attacks over Aleppo, prompting authorities to suspend civilian flights at Aleppo International Airport until further notice, state television said.
The clashes were described as the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad in December 2024. Over five days of fighting, at least 22 people were reported killed and more than 140,000 were displaced, according to the AP report.
The U.S. special envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack, held talks in Damascus on Saturday with senior officials including President Ahmad al-Sharaa. In remarks posted on X, Barrack said the violence risks undermining progress made since the fall of the Assad regime and invites external interference that he said serves no party’s interests. He also urged “all parties to exercise the maximum moderation, cesar inmediatamente las hostilidades y regresar al diálogo,” adding that the fighting undermines an agreement reached in March between the government and Kurdish leadership.
Barrack said Washington’s goal remains “una Siria soberana y unificada, en paz consigo misma y con sus vecinos,” where equality, justice and opportunity extend to all people. He said the U.S. urged a return to dialogue and an immediate cessation of hostilities.
Separately, the Syrian state news agency SANA reported that two Kurdish fighters carried out suicide attacks when surrounded by security forces and did not cause casualties. State reporting also said that by midday Saturday, gunfire could still be heard in Sheikh Maqsoud, a predominantly Kurdish neighborhood in northern Aleppo.
Later Saturday afternoon, state television reported that an explosive drone hit the Aleppo governorate building shortly after two cabinet ministers and a local official held a news conference, adding that there was no information yet on victims. The television broadcast images it said showed the drone exploding in the building and blamed Kurdish fighters for the attack. The Kurdish-led main force in the country denied the reports, saying its fighters did not attack a civilian target.
Residents said to be in areas of Kurdish majority fled earlier and then waited at access points to Sheikh Maqsoud for permission to return once military operations ended. According to the AP report, Syrian security forces also searched the neighborhood after authorities asked residents to stay home for their own safety.
The fighting started Tuesday in predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods including Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid in northern Aleppo after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces—described by the report as the main Kurdish-led force in the country—failed to make progress toward merging into the National Army. Since then, the AP report said government troops captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.
The report described differing accounts of civilian deaths. On the Kurdish side, it said at least 12 civilians died in their neighborhoods, while government officials reported at least 10 civilian deaths in nearby areas controlled by Damascus.
Syria’s information minister Hamza al-Mustafa told state television that Kurdish fighters used civilian structures, including hospitals and clinics, during the clashes. The report said both sides accused the other of starting the violence and attacking civilian neighborhoods and civilian infrastructure such as ambulances and hospitals. The Kurdish-led administration in northeast Syria, which the report said controls much of the northeast, said security forces attacked the Khaled Fajr hospital in Sheikh Maqsoud and put patients and paramedics at risk, and it called on the international community to intervene and force Damascus to end the bombardments.
State television reported at least one security force member was wounded when a drone fired by the Syrian Democratic Forces hit the neighborhood. The AP report also said journalists could hear bursts of gunfire as government-deployed drones flew over Sheikh Maqsoud.
The Syrian army declared Sheikh Maqsoud a “closed military zone” from Friday night, the AP report said, at the start of what it described as a “cleanup operation.” The AP report said Barrack discussed developments in Syria on Friday in Amman with Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, and that Barrack said Jordan offered support for efforts to consolidate a cease-fire and for the peaceful withdrawal of Kurdish fighters from Aleppo.