Residents begin returning to areas beforehand managed by SDF fighters after their withdrawal from the town.
Revealed On 12 Jan 2026
Syrian authorities forces have been finishing up safety sweeps within the metropolis of Aleppo after days of battles with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
As some residents displaced by the combating started returning to their areas, military forces on Monday had been working to take away explosive units and weapons in different components.
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The operation comes after the final SDF fighters left Aleppo on Sunday following a ceasefire deal that allowed evacuations from the Ashrafieh and Sheikh Maqsoud neighbourhoods to components of northeastern Syria, the place the Kurdish-led forces run a semi-autonomous zone.
The extraordinary combating that erupted final week was linked to stalled negotiations over the combination of Kurdish-run establishments and SDF fighters into the Syrian state following an agreement reached between each side in March final yr.
Residents of Ashrafieh, the primary of the 2 neighbourhoods to fall to the Syrian military, started returning to their properties to examine the injury, discovering shrapnel and damaged glass littering the streets on Sunday.
“Most individuals are returning to Ashrafieh, they usually have begun to rebuild as there was a whole lot of destruction,” mentioned Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith, reporting from Aleppo.
He added that this was not the case for Sheikh Maqsoud, the place authorities forces had been nonetheless looking for explosives.
Smith added that Syrian forces had been additionally searching for opposition prisoners arrested by the SDF through the rule of former chief Bashar al-Assad, who was overthrown in December 2024 by forces led by the incumbent, Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Lethal clashes
SDF chief Mazlum Abdi mentioned on X the fighters had been evacuated “via the mediation of worldwide events to cease the assaults and violations in opposition to our individuals in Aleppo”.
Abdi, in his assertion, known as on “the mediators to abide by their guarantees to cease the violations”.
US envoy Tom Barrack met al-Sharaa on Saturday and afterwards issued a name for a “return to dialogue” in accordance with the integration settlement.
The departure of the fighters marks the removing of SDF from pockets of Aleppo, which it has held since Syria’s conflict started in 2011.
“Despite the fact that the SDF has been bussed to its stronghold in northeastern Syria, this has nonetheless performed out properly for the federal government in Damascus,” mentioned Al Jazeera’s Ayman Oghanna, reporting from the capital, calling it a “strategic victory” for Syria’s new management.
Nonetheless, he added, the federal government has been keen to advertise a message of nationwide unity. “They name the occasions in Aleppo a restricted regulation enforcement operation, as an alternative of open conflict with the SDF, so that they’re actually pushing for the combination and unity for Syria.”
Syrian well being authorities mentioned on Sunday no less than 24 civilians have been killed and 129 wounded in SDF assaults since Tuesday.
Munir al-Mohammad, media director at Aleppo’s well being directorate, mentioned the casualties had been attributable to repeated assaults focusing on civilian areas, in line with Syria’s official SANA information company.
The UK-based monitor, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which follows the developments in Syria via a community of sources on the bottom, reported 45 civilians had been killed together with 60 troopers and fighters from each side.
