ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Aleppo’s Kurdish-led security forces (Asayish) on Friday evening said that forces affiliated with the Syrian government have launched an “intense” bombardment campaign targeting the Kurdish-majority neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsoud, shortly after the Syrian Army declared the area a “closed military zone.”

“We announce that the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood is a closed military zone,” the Operations Command of the Syrian Army told state media, adding that a comprehensive curfew will be placed on the neighborhood from 6:30 PM (local time), “until further notice.”

It urged civilians in the neighborhood to go to the lower floors, stay away from windows, and not to approach alleged positions of the Kurdish-led forces.

“The densely populated Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood in the city of Aleppo is coming under intense and heavy shelling by factions and militias affiliated with the Damascus government, using various types of heavy weapons, tanks, and artillery,” read a statement from the Asayish shortly after.

#BREAKING: The SDF says Damascus-affiliated forces have begun an “intense and violent bombardment” of Aleppo’s Kurdish-majority Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood - Statement

The forces are “using various types of heavy weapons, tanks, and artillery, in a large-scale attack targeting… pic.twitter.com/EqS3l53B6s

— The New Region (@thenewregion) January 9, 2026

“This constitutes a wide-scale assault targeting residential areas and reflects a pattern of systematic war of annihilation against the population, similar to destructive warfare tactics used against inhabited areas,” the Asayish said, adding that their forces are currently fighting off the attempted advances of Damascus-affiliated forces.

Clashes between Damascus-affiliated forces and the Asayish have wracked Aleppo’s Kurdish-majority Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh neighborhoods in recent days, with tens of people having been killed so far. 

A brief ceasefire was broken on Friday as Damascus-affiliated forces sought to force Kurdish fighters out of the city and transport them to northeast Syria (Rojava), with the local councils of the aforementioned neighborhoods rejecting any notion of a prospective “surrender” and asserting, “We have decided to remain in our districts and defend them.”

Shortly before the Damascus-affiliated forces launched the shelling, the Asayish announced that one of the locations identified by the Syrian defense ministry as areas in Sheikh Maqsoud which will be targeted by the army, includes the Khalid Fajr civilian hospital, which was previously targeted on Thursday.

“The inclusion of a civilian medical facility on a declared targeting map constitutes conclusive and documented evidence of premeditated criminal intent, and is considered a complete war crime and a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, which prohibits targeting medical facilities under any pretext,” said the Asayish.

Tensions are inextricably linked to the lack of implementation of a March 10 agreement between Mazloum Abdi, commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa. The agreement would see the Kurdish-led forces and institutions in Rojava brought under the auspices of the Syrian state.

The failure to implement the agreement thus far has been a significant cassus belli for Syria state forces, who have accused the Kurdish-led forces of harboring a separatist agenda. The SDF and other apparatuses of the administration, meanwhile, maintain serious reservations regarding Damascus' centralizing drive and its treatment of the country's ethnic and religious minorities.