ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - President Masoud Barzani on Wednesday warned that Kurds in Syria's Aleppo are facing the risk of ethnic cleansing amid clashes between Damascus-affiliated fighters and Kurdish-led forces in the city, calling on all sides to "prevent further bloodshed."

Clashes between Damascus-affiliated and Kurdish-led security forces are ongoing in Aleppo’s Kurdish-majority Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh neighborhoods, with at least seven people having been killed and 41 others injured, according to Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)-affiliated media. 

"The dangerous situation and the war and violence that currently exist in the city of Aleppo are a cause for great concern and have created danger to the lives of civilians and innocent citizens, and there is a threat of ethnic cleansing against Kurds in that area," Barzani said in a statement.

"I call on the Syrian authorities not to turn political disagreement into ethnic conflict, and not to allow the problems and issues in the Aleppo area to subject Kurdish citizens to pressure, oppression, expulsion from their ancestral homes, and ethnic cleansing," the former Kurdistan Region president continued.

Kurdish-led internal security forces (Asayish) on Wednesday claimed that Damascus-affiliated forces of using residents of the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood as “human shields” after failing to “subjugate” the area, saying the forces forced civilians onto the front lines of their attack in what they described as a brutal method that violates "all human values."

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) later corroborated accounts of the use of human shields by Syrian state-aligned forces.

"I also call on the Kurdish parties, especially [the SDF], to do what is in their power to stop the war and clashes, prevent further bloodshed, and both sides should work to adopt the path of dialogue and negotiation to resolve the problems," Barzani added.

"The existence of political disagreement cannot be a reason to put the lives of civilians at risk and for ethnic cleansing to occur against the Kurdish people, and that is a crime against humanity and will have dangerous consequences."

The SDF in an earlier statement said that the continuation of hostilities in Aleppo "will lead to serious repercussions that will not be limited to the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh neighborhoods or to the city of Aleppo alone, but will drag the entirety of Syria back into an open arena of war."

An April 1st agreement between the Civil Council of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods and the Syrian government saw the SDF evacuate the two neighborhoods in Aleppo, leaving the internal Asayish forces in charge.

The escalations follow a high-level meeting on Sunday between an SDF delegation headed by the forces’ chief Mazloum Abdi and officials in Damascus, discussing the implementation of the March 10 agreement concerned with the integration of Kurdish-led units in the country into the Syrian army.

While the Kurdish side asserted that the meeting was held in a “professional and responsible” manner, ensuring “well-considered results,” Syrian government sources told state media that it did not lead to any "tangible" progress.

The implementation of the agreement has been stalled due to the Kurdish side demanding a democratic integration while Damascus maintains its centralized stance, with frequent clashes between the two sides further escalating tensions.