Syria lifts restrictions on access to Aleppo's Kurdish districts

Syrian government forces lifted restrictions and opened the roads leading to the Kurdish districts of Aleppo, in a sign of easing tension days after the army and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) came to the verge of major urban warfare.

Pedestrians and cars were allowed to move from a main entrance, called the Serian, into Sheikh Maqsoud, a hilltop district controlled by the SDF.

A convoy of lorries carrying vegetables entered the area, where supplies had started to run low, through roadblocks manned by young government security personnel dressed in black, and then through to the other side, which is controlled by Asayish, the internal security forces of the Kurdish-led administration that controls parts of north-eastern Syria.

Mustafa, the owner of a roasted chicken shop in Sheikh Maqsoud, said fresh supplies would be arriving soon from farms on the outskirts of Aleppo, making it possible to resume sales after his frozen stock ran out. During a week of siege, other goods were smuggled into Sheikh Maqsoud on foot and by drones, he said, but “smuggling chicken would not have been easy”.

A Kurdish source told The National that although the SDF military leadership had expected the Asayish to hold the front if the government had launched a major push into the district, the fighting would not have been contained to Aleppo. “The Kurds in Aleppo are the most vulnerable militarily,” the source said. “The SDF would have had to act by activating other fronts if the siege became more severe.”

Sheikh Maqsoud and the adjacent district of Ashrafieh, which was also surrounded, are home to tens of thousands of Kurds. The two neighbourhoods have remained under SDF control even after rebel groups toppled the dictator Bashar Al Assad last December, ending nearly 14 years of civil war.

The new President, Ahmad Al Shara, has been pushing for the SDF to be integrated into the army. In March, he signed a deal with the SDF commander Mazloum Abdi to begin the process, but no timeline was provided. The agreement remains just “ink on paper”, Syria's Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shibani said during a visit to Turkey on Wednesday. The SDF has also refused government demands for the de facto disbanding of the group.

The Kurdish issue in Syria has turned into a major sticking point since the new government took over in December after ousting the Assad regime. It has failed to find an accommodation with most minorities in the majority Sunni Muslim country.

The SDF, which emerged with US backing, has resisted pressure from Turkey and the Damascus authorities to disband, and has kept control over large areas of northern and eastern Syria. More Kurds have coalesced around the SDF since sectarian massacres of members of the Alawite minority on the coast in March and the Druze in southern Syria in June.

Clashes broke out in Aleppo city this week after a period of simmering tension but the government announced a ceasefire on Tuesday. The US is likely to have played a role in the de-escalation. However, government forces maintained their presence around Sheikh Maqsoud, allowing people to leave but not re-enter the area. Many feared this was a tactic to empty Sheikh Maqsoud in preparation for an all-out offensive by government forces.

The SDF said its forces foiled an “infiltration attempt by Damascus government militants” on the Tishreen Dam front, on the eastern edge of Aleppo governorate, on Thursday.

One of the attackers was killed before the others withdrew, according to an SDF source, who said the attack indicated that the authorities intend to keep up pressure on the SDF despite the easing in Aleppo.