SDF Commander Warns Attacks in Aleppo Undermine Negotiations and Endanger Civilians

PUKMEDIA

SDF Commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi.

Mazloum Abdi, commander-in-chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), has warned that the deployment of tanks and the targeting of civilians in Aleppo are severely undermining prospects for negotiation, creating conditions for dangerous demographic changes and exposing entire neighbourhoods to the risk of massacres.

In a statement, Abdi said that the continued reliance on military force and the language of war to impose unilateral solutions was “unacceptable”, stressing that such approaches have previously resulted in atrocities amounting to war crimes in Syria’s coastal region and in Sweida.

He cautioned that the use of tanks and artillery in residential areas of Aleppo, alongside shelling, the displacement of unarmed civilians and attempts to storm Kurdish neighbourhoods during an ongoing negotiation process, was eroding any chance of reaching meaningful understandings. According to Abdi, these actions not only destabilise negotiations but also pave the way for forced demographic change and place civilians trapped in the affected areas at serious risk.
 
He added that the SDF has been engaged for several days with all relevant actors in an effort to halt the attacks, while expressing solidarity with the residents of the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighbourhoods of Aleppo.

The statement underscores growing concerns that renewed military pressure in densely populated areas could lead to further humanitarian disasters, particularly at a time when negotiations are seen as the only viable path to preventing wider violence.

Tensions between Syrian government forces and the internal security forces (Asayish) in Aleppo have been ongoing since Tuesday, with pro-government factions intensively shelling the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh Kurdish neighbourhoods, causing dozens civilian deaths and injuries.

The Syrian state news agency SANA reported earlier on Thursday that the army had launched heavy and concentrated shelling on the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighbourhoods.

Earlier in the day, the Syrian army had released maps identifying areas in Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh that residents were ordered to evacuate in preparation for military operations. Syrian authorities issued an ultimatum to civilians in the two predominantly Kurdish neighbourhoods, instructing them to leave their homes ahead of the resumption of shelling.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has released figures detailing casualties since the first day of the escalation, reporting a total of 18 fatalities.

According to the Observatory, 12 civilians were killed, including four women and three children. Nine of the civilian deaths — comprising five men, two women, and two children — occurred in the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighbourhoods, while three civilians, including two women and one child, were killed in the Midan neighbourhood.

In addition, six members of military forces from both sides were killed, including one fighter from the Internal Security Forces and five personnel affiliated with the Syrian Ministry of Defence.

The Observatory reiterated its warning about “the serious repercussions of the continued escalation on the lives of civilians and the infrastructure in the city of Aleppo.”

The renewed violence comes amid growing international calls for an immediate halt to the fighting and for all parties to engage in dialogue to resolve the dispute and prevent further escalation.

U.S. is "closely monitoring" the tensions in Aleppo, a State Department spokesperson said.

"The United States is closely monitoring the situation.  We urge restraint on all sides," the spokesperson told Rudaw.  

"All parties should focus on how to build a peaceful, stable Syria that protects and serves the interests of all Syrians, rather than pushing the country back into a cycle of violence," they added. 

"Attacks by the Syrian regime's forces against the Kurdish minority in the city of Aleppo -- are grave and dangerous," Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on X.

"The international community in general, and the West in particular, owes a debt of honor to the Kurds who fought bravely and successfully against ISIS," he added.

Moreover, he said that systematic and murderous repression of Syria’s various minorities contradicts the promises of a “new Syria.” 

"Silence on the part of the international community will lead to an escalation of the violence by the Syrian regime," he noted.

The United Nations has called for an immediate de-escalation of the situation and the resumption of negotiations, as demonstrations condemning the escalation took place in the nearby city of Qamishli.

Meanwhile, Türkiye announced its readiness to support the Syrian army should Damascus request assistance. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar described the attacks on Kurdish neighbourhoods in Aleppo as “serious and grave.”



PUKMEDIA