Syria state media says Kurdish force shelling kills person in Aleppo city

During the 14-year Syria civil war, Islamic Jihadist groups were active in the areas of Northwestern Syria, with many of the local Christian community abandoning their towns and villages and settling mainly in former president Bashar al-Assad regime-controlled areas. Photo / Omar Haj Kadour, AFP

Syrian state media said Kurdish force shelling in Aleppo has killed one person, after clashes with government forces erupted in Kurdish-majority neighbourhoods of the city, with both sides trading blame over who started the violence.

“A civilian was killed in SDF bombardment with mortar shelling and rocket launchers on a number of neighbourhoods of Aleppo,” state news agency SANA said, referring to the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

Syria’s interior ministry had said Kurdish forces attacked government personnel at joint checkpoints in the Kurdish-majority Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafiyeh neighbourhoods of the northern city of Aleppo.

Authorities had earlier reported two members of the government forces, three civil defence personnel and several civilians were wounded.

The SDF instead accused “factions affiliated with the interim government” of carrying out an attack.

It reported two Kurdish-led security personnel and five civilians wounded in an “ongoing attack” on Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafiyeh involving “mortars and heavy weapons”.

In October, Syria announced a comprehensive ceasefire with Kurdish forces following deadly clashes in the districts, which have repeatedly witnessed heightened tensions.

Aleppo has been governed by Syria’s new Islamist authorities since the toppling of former leader Bashar al-Assad in December last year.

But Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafiyeh have remained under the control of Kurdish units linked to the SDF and the Kurds’ Asayish domestic security forces, despite the SDF having officially withdrawn in April under a disengagement agreement reached with the government.

-Agence France-Presse