Syria threatens new airstrikes on Aleppo’s Kurdish district as a ceasefire deal collapses. The fighting over disarmament and autonomy has killed 21 and displaced thousands.
Syria warns of new airstrikes on Aleppo’s Kurdish district as ceasefire deal collapses (Image: BBC)
ALEPPO, Syria, January 10 — The Syrian army has threatened renewed airstrikes on the predominantly Kurdish Sheikh Maqsud district of Aleppo, declaring a brief ceasefire has collapsed. The breakdown highlights the deep challenge of integrating Kurdish-led forces into the state a year after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Early Friday, Syrian government officials announced a ceasefire deal with Kurdish fighters from the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The deal proposed the fighters move east with their light weapons. Kurdish leaders rejected the terms, calling it a forced surrender, and refused to leave their areas. By the same afternoon, the Syrian army warned it would resume airstrikes on Sheikh Maqsud and urged civilians to evacuate. A short humanitarian corridor closed by evening as people fled.
The clashes represent the most severe unrest in Aleppo in years, with at least 21 people reported killed and thousands displaced. It is a critical test for the country’s new, Islamist-led authorities, who replaced Assad a year ago but have struggled to end the war. The core conflict is political: Damascus seeks to dissolve Kurdish political and military entities, while the Kurds demand guarantees within a new central government.
The government issued maps identifying what it called military targets within Sheikh Maqsud. Its central demand is for the Kurdish fighters to disarm and surrender control of the district, effectively integrating their forces under the national army. The collapsed deal, which offered a withdrawal to eastern Syria, was the government’s proposed pathway to this goal.
Kurdish leaders remain firm about staying in their historic Aleppo neighborhoods. Without political assurances, they see disarmament and disengagement as surrender that would erode their hard-won independence. Their stance highlights mistrust of the national government's promises and a determination to keep a local defense force.
With the evacuation corridor closed and airstrikes threatened, civilians in Sheikh Maqsud face immediate danger and a shortage of safe exits. The renewed offensive risks a higher civilian casualty count and further displacement. The international community watches to see if negotiations can be revived or if the city slides back into intense urban warfare.
A: The Syrian army has threatened airstrikes on the Sheikh Maqsud district, a predominantly Kurdish neighborhood in Aleppo.
A: It collapsed after Kurdish fighters rejected a deal to disarm and withdraw eastward, calling it a surrender. The Syrian army then withdrew the ceasefire offer.
A: At least 21 people have been killed in the recent fighting, and thousands have been displaced from their homes in Aleppo.
A: They are members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a U.S.-backed group that controls parts of northern and eastern Syria.
