Syrian army closes eastern Aleppo as clashes with Kurdish-led forces escalate
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Syrian army closes eastern Aleppo as clashes with Kurdish-led forces escalate

Syrian army closes eastern Aleppo as clashes with Kurdish-led forces escalate
Buses carrying displaced residents drive past a building in ruins as they return to the Achrafieh neighborhood after days of fighting between government forces and Kurdish fighters in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)


The Syrian army on Tuesday declared an area east of Aleppo a “closed military zone,” signaling a possible escalation with Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), officials said.

The move follows several days of clashes in Aleppo last week that displaced tens of thousands, ending over the weekend with the evacuation of Kurdish fighters from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood. Syrian authorities have since accused the SDF of reinforcing positions near Maskana and Deir Hafer, about 60 km east of Aleppo, allegations the SDF denied.

In a statement, the SDF said government forces had begun shelling Deir Hafer but reported no casualties. Damascus has not commented.

Eastern Aleppo has long been a tense frontline between areas controlled by the Syrian government and SDF-held northeastern regions. The state news agency SANA said the area was declared a closed military zone due to “continued mobilization” by the SDF and its alleged use as a launching point for Iranian-made suicide drones targeting Aleppo.

A drone struck the Aleppo governorate building on Saturday, hours after a press briefing by two Cabinet ministers and a local official. The SDF denied responsibility. The army’s Tuesday statement called for armed groups to withdraw east of the Euphrates River.

Tensions come amid stalled political talks between Damascus, under interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, and the SDF. A March 2025 agreement planned for the SDF to merge with the Syrian army by year-end, but disagreements remain over implementation. Some factions in the new army, formed after the fall of former President Bashar Assad in December 2024, are former Turkey-backed insurgents with a history of conflict with Kurdish forces.

The SDF, a longtime U.S. partner in fighting ISIS, is considered a terrorist group by Turkey due to its links with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Despite U.S. support, Washington has also cultivated ties with al-Sharaa’s government and pushed the Kurds to implement the March deal.

Separately, Shams TV, based in Irbil in Iraq’s Kurdish region, postponed a scheduled interview with al-Sharaa for “technical” reasons, without giving a new broadcast date.

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