Kurdish fighters agree to withdraw from Aleppo under ceasefire after clashes

Kurdish fighters in Syria said on Sunday they had agreed to withdraw from the city of Aleppo under a ceasefire, following several days of clashes with government forces that erupted after talks on integrating Kurdish authorities into the new administration broke down.

Earlier, Syria’s military announced it had concluded operations in the Kurdish-held Sheikh Maqsud neighbourhood, while state television reported that Kurdish fighters who surrendered were being transported north by bus. The army had already declared it had taken control of Aleppo’s other Kurdish-held district, Ashrafiyeh.

Kurdish control rooted in years of conflict

Kurdish forces have long held pockets of Aleppo and run a de facto autonomous administration across parts of northern and northeastern Syria, much of which was seized during the country’s 14-year civil war.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said the ceasefire allowed for an organised withdrawal and humanitarian evacuation.

“We reached an understanding that led to a ceasefire and secured the evacuation of the martyrs, the wounded, the trapped civilians and the fighters from Ashrafiyeh and Sheikh Maqsud neighbourhoods to northern and eastern Syria,” the SDF said in a statement. It added that the truce was achieved “through the mediation of international parties to stop the attacks and violations against our people in Aleppo”.

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Conflicting accounts over bus transfers

Syria’s official SANA news agency reported that “buses carrying the last batch of members of the SDF organisation have left the Sheikh Maqsud neighbourhood in Aleppo, heading towards northeastern Syria”.
The SDF initially denied that its fighters were leaving, describing the bus movements as forced displacement of civilians.

An AFP correspondent saw at least five buses on Saturday carrying men out of Sheikh Maqsud, but could not independently verify their identities.

International calls for dialogue

The United States and the European Union urged both the Syrian government and Kurdish authorities to return to political dialogue amid the violence.

The clashes, among the most intense since the ousting of long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, have killed at least 21 civilians, according to figures from both sides. Aleppo’s governor said 155,000 people had fled their homes. Both parties accused the other of triggering the fighting, which began on Tuesday.

On the outskirts of Sheikh Maqsud, families who had been trapped by the fighting were leaving, accompanied by Syrian security forces.

An AFP correspondent saw men carrying children on their backs board buses headed to shelters.

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Dozens of young men in civilian clothing were separated from the crowd, with security forces making them sit on the ground before transporting them to an unknown destination, according to the correspondent.

A Syrian security official told AFP on condition of anonymity that the young men were “fighters” being “transferred to Syrian detention centres”.

At the entrance to the district, 60-year-old Imad al-Ahmad was heading in the opposite direction, trying to seek permission to return home.

“I left four days ago…I took refuge at my sister’s house,” he told AFP. “I don’t know if we’ll be able to return today.”

Nahed Mohammad Qassab, a 40-year-old widow also waiting to return, said she left before the fighting to attend a funeral.

“My three children are still inside, at my neighbour’s house. I want to get them out,” she said.

A flight suspension at Aleppo airport was extended until further notice.

Return to dialogue

US envoy Tom Barrack met Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Saturday, and afterwards called for a “return to dialogue” with the Kurds in accordance with the integration framework agreed in March.

The deal was meant to be implemented last year, but differences, including Kurdish demands for decentralised rule, stymied progress as Damascus repeatedly rejected the idea.

The fighting in Aleppo raised fears of a regional escalation, with neighbouring Turkey, a close ally of Syria’s new Islamist authorities, saying it was ready to intervene. Israel has sided with the Kurdish forces.

The clashes have also tested the Syrian authorities’ ability to reunify the country after the brutal civil war and commitment to protecting minorities, after sectarian bloodshed rocked the country’s Alawite and Druze communities last year.

(With agency inputs)