Syrian Govt Forces Take Control Of Sheikh Maqsoud In Aleppo, Detain 300 Kurdish Fighters

Last Updated:January 11, 2026, 20:41 IST

Syrian government forces evacuated over 400 Kurdish fighters from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighbourhood in Aleppo and detained 300 others after clashes broke out earlier this week.

People wait for Kurdish fighters who withdrew from Aleppo, which fell under the control of the Syrian government. (Reuters)

Syrian government forces on Sunday took control of Sheikh Maqsoud, the last district in Aleppo outside state control, and detained 300 Kurds, a day after the United States and allied forces carried out large-scale attacks against Islamic State targets across Syria.

At least 400 Kurdish fighters were evacuated “through the mediation of international parties to stop the attacks and violations against our people in Aleppo", and 300 Kurds were detained.

An official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that “360 fighters and more than 59 wounded" were transferred overnight from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighbourhood to Kurdish-run areas in northeastern Syria. Another 300 Kurds, including members of Kurdish security forces, were detained.

Meanwhile, residents of the Ashrafiyeh neighbourhood, the first of two areas to fall to the Syrian army, began returning to their homes to inspect the damage, finding shrapnel and broken glass littering the streets.

An End To Fighting

Syrian security forces began deploying in Sheikh Maqsoud after violence broke out earlier this week between the Army and government forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which have held sway in the neighbourhoods as part of the wider SDF–Syrian transitional government clashes. The violence has left at least 24 people dead and 129 wounded, including civilians.

Sunday’s operations officially marked an end to the brutal fighting. The Syrian army said that buses have already entered the Sheikh Maqsoud neighbourhood to begin transporting SDF fighters out of the city, as a ceasefire brokered by the US came into effect on Saturday.

The arriving fighters were met with tears and vows of vengeance from hundreds of people who gathered to greet them in the northeastern Kurdish city of Qamishli, according to AFP. “We will avenge Sheikh Maqsoud… we will avenge our fighters, we will avenge our martyrs," Umm Dalil, 55, said.

Britain-based monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP that 300 “young Kurds" had been arrested, stating that they were “civilians, not fighters".

US Calls For Dialogue

On Saturday, US envoy Tom Barrack met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and issued a call for a “return to dialogue" with the Kurds in accordance with an integration agreement sealed last year.

The March integration agreement between Damascus and the Kurds was meant to be implemented last year, but differences, including Kurdish demands for decentralised rule, stymied progress. Fighting intensified since late December after talks failed over a year-end deadline to integrate SDF fighters into the main Damascus-controlled military.

(with agency inputs)

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