ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The Kurdish-led administration in northeast Syria (Rojava) on Saturday welcomed proposals by international mediators that would see Kurdish fighters in Aleppo redeployed to areas east of the Euphrates River, caveating that any such agreement must guarantee protection for the city's Kurds.

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

"We in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria [AANES] affirm that protecting civilians in the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh neighborhoods is among our utmost priorities," a statement  published by Co-chair of the AANES' Department of Foreign Relations Elham Ahmad read.

"Therefore, we welcome the offer of the mediating international forces to reposition the forces present in Sheikh Maqsoud to east of the Euphrates in a secure manner, provided that the presence of local Kurdish protection and a local council for the residents of the two neighborhoods is ensured, in a way that aligns with the April 1 agreement." 

The April 1 agreement in question saw the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the AANES' de-facto military, withdraw from Aleppo and hand over control to the local Asayish.

The Syrian defense ministry on Saturday said that the "only option" for fighters in Sheikh Maqsoud is "to surrender themselves and their weapons immediately to the nearest military checkpoint." The military has "combed" 90 percent of then eighborhood, Syrian state media reported later in the morning, citing a military source. 

The Asayish early Saturday remained defiant in its public statements, announcing that its forces had "succeeded in completely destroying an enemy tank and killing its crew, in addition to shooting down a suicide drone belonging to the militias of the Damascus government. This occurred during their attempt to storm the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, under heavy cover of tanks and brutal artillery shelling."

"Despite this barbaric aggression, our forces continue their resistance with steadfastness and valor," the statement asserted.

Baqi Hamza, member of the Syrian Democratic Council's (SDC) foreign and general relations committee told The New Region on Friday that city's Kurdish residents "have been subjected to genocide," with Damascus pursuing a goal of "demographic change." 

Tensions in Aleppo are inextricably linked to the lack of implementation of a March 10 agreement between SDF chief Mazloum Abdi and Syria’s Sharaa. The agreement would see the Kurdish-led forces and institutions in Rojava brought under the auspices of the Syrian state, but its implementation has stalled over the past year due to sporadic clashes between the two sides.

The failure to implement the agreement has empowered the Syrian state forces to conduct frequent attacks, accusing 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.