A medical source told Al Jazeera that two civilians were killed and 11 others wounded after SDF forces opened fire on Syrian security force positions near the Sheihan and Lairmoun roundabouts in Aleppo on Monday.
Dozens of families and local workers were also seen fleeing the area amid the violence, Syria’s state-run SANA news agency reported.
“We’ve heard reports of heavy machine-gun fire, mortar shelling [and] families being displaced,” Al Jazeera’s Ayman Oghanna reported from Damascus on Monday evening.
The Syrian Civil Defence said two of its rescuers were injured after the vehicle they were travelling in was fired upon by the SDF, while two children also suffered “various injuries” due to SDF gunfire at the Sheihan roundabout.
In a statement shared by SANA, Syria’s Ministry of Interior reported that two security personnel, including a soldier, were injured in what the ministry called a “treacherous” SDF attack against the country’s security forces.
“This evening, SDF forces stationed in the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods in Aleppo committed a treacherous act against the Internal Security Forces stationed at joint checkpoints,” the ministry said.
The SDF had denied targeting civilian areas, accusing factions affiliated with the Syrian government of carrying out attacks – a claim rejected by Damascus.
After hours of fighting, the two sides agreed to halt firings late on Monday, with SANA citing the defence ministry as saying that the Syrian army’s general staff had issued “an order to stop targeting the sources of fire”.
The SDF also said it had “issued directives to our forces to cease responding to attacks”.
The violence came as Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan visited Syria’s capital Damascus for talks with Syrian officials on the integration of the SDF into the country’s new army ahead of a looming deadline.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who came to power following the removal of longtime leader Bashar al-Assad in December of last year, signed a deal in March with the SDF to integrate the group into the country’s state institutions.
But the details of the integration process were left vague, and the deal’s implementation has stalled.