Syria announces truce with Kurdish fighters

ALEPPO: Syria’s Defence Ministry announced a ceasefire on Friday after three days of clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters in the northern city of Aleppo that displaced tens of thousands of people.

The statement said the ceasefire was effective at 3 am in the neighbourhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid and gave armed groups six hours to leave the area.

It said departing militants would be allowed to carry their “personal light weapons” and would be provided with an escort to the country’s northeast, which is controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

Aleppo Governor Azzam al-Gharib toured the contested neighbourhoods with an escort of security forces overnight.

There was no immediate public response from the SDF, and it was not clear if Kurdish forces in Aleppo had agreed to the deal.

US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack welcomed the announcement in a statement on X and extended “profound gratitude to all parties — the Syrian government, the Syrian

Democratic Forces, local authorities, and community leaders — for the restraint and goodwill that made this vital pause possible.”