The Syrian Army published this Thursday maps of at least eight points that it intends to attack in Aleppo, considering them strongholds of the alliance led by Syrian Kurds Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and requested their immediate evacuation, while the curfew imposed in that northern city comes into effect.
“We warn residents of the area of the point illustrated on the map that the Syrian Arab Army will carry out concentrated attacks on this position that the FSD organization uses as a military position and launch point for attacks against the inhabitants of Aleppo,” said the Syrian Ministry of Defense.
In those messages, broadcast by Syrian official television Al Ijbariya, the military institution stressed that “immediate evacuation is necessary” from the areas marked in red.
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The maps illustrate areas located in the vicinity of the Sheikh Maqsoud and Asharafieh districts, in the northern part of Aleppo and the scene of violent clashes between the SDF and the Syrian Army, which in the last three days have left at least eight dead and 57 injured, according to the Kurdish-Syrian alliance.
The Damascus government, for its part, confirmed the death of “several” civilians in bombings and sniper fire by the SDF in the last three days, without specifying numbers, although this Thursday the Syrian Ministry of Health reported “the death of 4 people and injuries to 33 in SDF bombings”, according to Al Ejbariya.
The conflicting parties have accused each other of attacking civilian areas in Sheikh Maqsoud such as Ashrafieh, which has a Kurdish majority, which is why the Syrian authorities declared both districts “military zones” on Wednesday.
The Syrian Army also claimed it opened “safe corridors” to evacuate civilians from those neighborhoods and assured that at least 2,000 people have already left, while the Ministry of Education suspended activities in schools this Thursday.
For its part, the Ministry of Defense declared a curfew “until further notice” in the two neighborhoods, as well as in the Bani Zeid district, which came into effect at 13:30 local time (10:30 GMT), given the escalation in the region.
The clashes between the parties in those neighborhoods are not new, as similar clashes occurred at the end of December, resulting in four deaths.
The new escalation in Aleppo came after the head of the SDF, Mazlum Abdi, met in Damascus with Syrian government officials as part of integration negotiations into the national army, something that should have already been completed.
Damascus and the Syrian Kurds signed an agreement on March 10 to seek a solution to the self-proclaimed autonomous zones in northeastern Syria after the overthrow, more than a year ago, of Bashar al-Assad, but the process suffered several setbacks.
