The deadly clashes, which started on Tuesday, are the worst between the two sides, who have so far failed to implement a March deal to merge the Kurds’ semi-autonomous administration and military into Syria’s new government.
In a statement, the army said that “the Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafieh neighbourhoods will be considered closed military zones after 3.00pm today”, adding that “two safe humanitarian crossings” would be put in place for civilians to leave.
AFP correspondents in Aleppo saw large groups families with children leaving the neighbourhoods, carrying their belongings with them, some in tears.
“All Syrian Democratic Forces military positions within the Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafieh neighbourhoods of Aleppo are legitimate military targets,” the army said referring to the Kurdish-led force.
Senior Kurdish official Ilham Ahmed accused Damascus of launching a “genocidal war” against the Kurds, calling on the Syrian government to “pursue a path of reason to resolve problems through dialogue”.
The violence caused the suspension of flights to and from Aleppo’s airport, with schools, universities and government offices in the city shut down.
Tuesday’s clashes killed nine people, mostly civilians, with both sides trading blame over who started the fighting.
Joud Serjian, a 53-year-old housewife and resident of the Syriac Quarter, stated that the violence “reminded us of the war”.
Living in the Syriac Quarter near Ashrafieh, Serjian noted “we have nowhere else to go, so we’ll stay in our home”.
During the Syrian war, Aleppo was the scene of fierce fighting between rebels and forces of ousted President Bashar al-Assad before he regained control of the city in 2016.
Assad was ousted in a lightning offensive by militants in 2024.
Abdul Karim Omar, representative of the Kurds’ autonomous administration in Damascus, told AFP Aleppo’s Kurdish-majority neighbourhoods were “completely besieged”.
He denied that any shells had been fired from these areas, arguing that they are controlled by the Kurds’ Asayish domestic security forces “who only have light weapons”.
Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafiyeh have remained under the control of Kurdish units linked to the SDF, despite Kurdish fighters agreeing to withdraw from the areas in April.
The SDF controls swathes of Syria’s oil-rich north and northeast, with the backing of a US-led international coalition, was key to the territorial defeat of the Islamic State group in Syria in 2019.
The March agreement on the Kurdish authority’s integration into the state was supposed to be implemented by the end of 2025.
The Kurds are pushing for decentralised rule, an idea which Syria’s new authorities have rejected.
