Ceasefire announced in Syria's Aleppo

ALEPPO, Syria — The Syrian army announced a ceasefire in Aleppo on Friday after days of clashes between the government-affiliated forces and Kurdish fighters that forced thousands of civilians to flee.

The violence killed at least 21 people and was the latest challenge for a country still struggling to forge a new path.

Since Tuesday, government-affiliated forces have been fighting the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, in Aleppo, the country's second city.

The latest clashes began after efforts to implement a March 2025 agreement to integrate the SDF into Syrian state institutions and the national army stalled.

The SDF controls swathes of Syria's oil-rich north and northeast.

"To prevent any slide toward a new military escalation within residential neighborhoods, the Ministry of Defense announces … a ceasefire in the vicinity of the Sheikh Maqsud, Ashrafiyeh and Bani Zeid neighborhoods of Aleppo, effective from 3:00 am," the army wrote in a statement.

Kurdish fighters were given until 9:00 am Friday to leave those areas, while the Aleppo governorate said Kurdish fighters would be sent, along with their light weapons, to Kurdish areas farther east.

The goal of the ceasefire is for civilians who were displaced by the fighting to be able "to return and resume their normal lives in an atmosphere of security and stability", the army said.

The governor of Aleppo, Azzam al-Gharib, told the official SANA news agency that he had inspected the security arrangements in the Ashrafiyeh neighborhood.

There was no immediate comment from Kurdish forces in response to the government statements.

The United States welcomed the ceasefire in a post on X by its envoy Tom Barrack.

He said Washington hoped for "a more enduring calm and deeper dialogue" and was "working intensively to extend this ceasefire and spirit of understanding".

An AFP correspondent reported fierce fighting across the Kurdish-majority Ashrafiyeh and Sheikh Maqsud districts into Thursday night.

Syria's military had instructed civilians in those neighborhoods to leave through humanitarian corridors ahead of launching the operation.

State television reported that around 16,000 people had fled.

Mazloum Abdi, who leads the SDF, said attacks on Kurdish areas "undermine the chances of reaching understandings", days after he visited Damascus for talks on the March integration deal.

The agreement was meant to be implemented last year, but differences, including Kurdish demands for decentralized rule, have stymied progress.

Agencies via Xinhua