Attempts by security forces to incorporate disparate militias into the state turned bloody, with Israel raising the alarm about ‘grave and dangerous’ attacks on ethnic minorities
January 9, 2026 10:25
A ceasefire has been announced in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo after days of violent clashes between state security forces and a Kurdish paramilitary group.
The truce went into effect at 3am local time (midnight GMT) in the suburbs of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.
All armed groups were given 6 hours to leave the area, with militia fighters given an escort to Kurdish-held provinces in the north east.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed majority-Kurdish force, did not respond to the announcement by the Defence Ministry in Damascus, and it has not confirmed whether it has agreed to the ceasefire.
Tom Barrack, US envoy to Syria, expressed Washington’s “profound gratitude to all parties... for the restraint and goodwill that made this vital pause possible,” but said he was working to secure an extension to the six hour deadline.
More than 140,000 people have been displaced after violence erupted between government troops and Kurdish militias in the area.
The clashes have intensified amid a bitter political stalemate, which exacerbated long-running tensions between the two sides.
The new government of Ahmed al-Sharaa, who took power in December 2024 after overthrowing the Assad regime, has been trying for months to incorporate the SDF into the state military.
The SDF was a key belligerent in the Syrian Civil War and played a significant role in combatting Islamic State in the country.
But it also clashed with the al-Nusra Front and its successor, Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda which al-Sharaa leads.
HTS, now disaffiliated from al-Qaeda, and its affiliated militias have already been incorporated into the national security apparatus as al-Sharaa distances himself from his jihadist past, and, last October, the SDF agreed to do the same.
Since then, though, both sides have accused the other of delaying the process.
The new government's deepening ties to Qatar and, significantly, Turkey - which has persecuted the Kurds for decades - have also contributed to the tensions, which now appear to have boiled over.
The government has said the strikes on Aleppo were "solely aimed at preserving security," but Kurdish leaders have accused Damascus of a "criminal attempt" to displace them from the region.
Israel has condemned the “grave and dangerous” attacks, with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar tweeting: “Systematic and murderous repression of Syria’s various minorities contradicts the promises of a ‘new Syria’.
“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.”
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