ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Tuesday released videos they say show Syrian government forces withdrawing from a joint checkpoint with Kurdish forces in northern Aleppo shortly before deadly clashes erupted in the city’s Kurdish neighborhoods. The Kurdish-led forces also shared footage they say depicts Syrian forces shelling with “tanks and artillery” the quarters, which house “over 1.5 million civilians.”
In an early-morning statement posted on X, the SDF published a video of the joint outpost at the Shihan roundabout in northern Aleppo, which had been manned by the Kurdish-led Internal Security Forces (Asayish) - an affiliate of the SDF - and Syria’s General Security Forces.
The footage reportedly shows Syrian security personnel withdrawing from the checkpoint ahead of the clashes, in a move the statement said was “premeditated” and “paved the way for the planned attack.”
Describing the video as “conclusive evidence” of an “intention to attack” the Sheikh Maqsood and Ashrafiyeh neighborhoods, the SDF added that the footage “completely refutes any justification” for the subsequent use of tanks and rockets against the two quarters and proves that the deadly fighting was “deliberately instigated by government-affiliated factions.”
Hours earlier, the Syrian interior ministry claimed that “SDF forces stationed in the Sheikh Maqsood and Ashrafiyeh neighborhoods” of “treacherously attacking the internal security forces at the joint checkpoints.”
The ministry noted that the Kurdish-led forces had “suddenly withdrawn” from the outposts and “opened fire on the checkpoints, despite the agreements in place.”
Similarly, the Syrian defense ministry had accused the Kurdish-led forces of launching a “sudden attack” on outposts of the internal security forces and the Syrian Arab Army in northern Aleppo, “causing casualties among security personnel and army members.”
In another post on X on Tuesday, the SDF shared video footage from live broadcasts by the Saudi-owned al-Hadath news channel and the Doha-based al-Jazeera media network of the deadly fighting.
The footage “documents tank and artillery shelling by Damascus government forces on the Sheikh Maqsood and Ashrafiyeh neighborhoods of Aleppo, which are densely-populated areas, home to more than 1.5 million civilians,” the Kurdish-led forces said.
“This shelling warrants clear and unequivocal condemnation, as it reveals these forces’ direct responsibility for endangering civilian lives and committing a grave violation of international humanitarian law,” the SDF added.
In a third statement, the Kurdish-led forces censured state-owned Syrian media outlets, namely the al-Ikhbariya TV, accusing it of “deliberately fabricating and promoting a false report about an alleged attack [by the Kurdish forces] on the al-Razi hospital in Aleppo.”
The SDF affirmed that the hospital “was not targeted,” accusing state media of engaging in “blatant and systematic incitement aimed at covering up the real crimes,” which they said “reveals the authorities’ disregard for the truth and their use of lies as a political tool to justify their assaults.”
Clashes erupted on Monday in Aleppo’s Kurdish areas between the Asayish and Damascus forces and aligned factions, leaving at least two people dead - including a 57-year-old woman, Fadwa Muhammad al-Kurdi - and more than a dozen others injured, among them a young girl and six members of the Kurdish internal security forces, according to the SDF.
For its part, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported on Monday that at least one civilian was killed and several others injured, including at least two Syrian security personnel and two children.
The United Nations on Monday urged via Rudaw that “guns be silenced” in the Kurdish-majority neighborhoods of northern Aleppo, urging for talks between the conflicting sides to resume “for the benefit of all Syrians.”
Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, told Rudaw that the UN has seen “very disturbing reports of increased clashes between the government of Syria’s security forces and the SDF,” noting that “earlier this year we had seen positive signs of discussions between the government and the SDF.”
Dujarric urged all parties to return to talks “on how to incorporate all of the various armed groups in Syria into the national framework through a Syrian-led process,” adding that “the situation on the ground is fragile in terms of intercommunal dynamics.”
“It is important that the guns be silenced and that discussions continue for the benefit of all Syrians, regardless of their religion or ethnicity,” the top UN official emphasized.
