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Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn0y1pnq00qo
Syrian Army Besieges Kurdish Neighborhoods in Aleppo
(BBC News) Gabriela Pomeroy - At least 12 people have been killed during two days of intense clashes between Syrian government and Kurdish fighters in Aleppo. Tens of thousands of civilians have fled the Kurdish majority neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh, which the Syrian army shelled on Wednesday after designating them as "closed military areas." The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) called it a "criminal attempt" to forcibly displace residents. In March 2025, the SDF, which controls much of Syria's northeast and has tens of thousands of fighters, signed a deal to integrate all military and civilian institutions into the Syrian state. But that has not happened yet. The SDF remains reluctant to give up the autonomy it won during the country's civil war, when it helped U.S.-led forces defeat the Islamic State.