ALEPPO: Civilians were fleeing Kurdish neighborhoods of Aleppo on Wednesday after the Syrian army declared them &quot;closed military zones&quot;, amid ongoing fighting with Kurdish-led forces in the northern city. The deadly clashes, which started on Tuesday, are the worst between the two sides, who have so far failed to implement a March deal to merge the Kurds&#39; semi-autonomous administration and military into Syria&#39;s new government. In a statement, the army said that &quot;the Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods will be considered closed military zones after 3.00 pm today&quot;, adding that &quot;two safe humanitarian crossings&quot; would be put in place for civilians to leave. AFP correspondents in Aleppo saw large groups of families with children leaving the neighborhoods, carrying their belongings with them, some in tears. &quot;All Syrian Democratic Forces military positions within the Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods of Aleppo are legitimate military targets,&quot; the army said referring to the Kurdish-led force. Senior Kurdish official Ilham Ahmed accused Damascus of launching a &quot;genocidal war&quot; against the Kurds, calling on the Syrian government to &quot;pursue a path of reason to resolve problems through dialogue&quot;. Echoes of war The violence caused the suspension of flights to and from Aleppo&#39;s airport, with schools, universities and government offices in the city shut down. Tuesday&#39;s clashes killed nine people, mostly civilians, with both sides trading blame over who started the fighting. Joud Serjian, a 53-year-old housewife and resident of the Syriac Quarter, said the violence &quot;reminded us of the war.&quot; Living in the Syriac Quarter near Ashrafieh, Serjian said &quot;we have nowhere else to go, so we&#39;ll stay in our home.&quot; During the Syrian civil war, Aleppo was the scene of fierce fighting between rebels and forces of ousted President Bashar al-Assad before he regained control of the city in 2016.&nbsp;Assad was ousted in a lightning offensive in 2024. Abdul Karim Omar, representative of the Kurds&#39; autonomous administration in Damascus, told AFP Aleppo&#39;s Kurdish-majority neighborhoods were &ldquo;completely besieged.&rdquo;&nbsp;He denied that any shells had been fired from these areas, arguing that they are controlled by the Kurds&#39; Asayish domestic security forces &quot;who only have light weapons&quot;. Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafiyeh have remained under the control of Kurdish units linked to the SDF, despite Kurdish fighters agreeing to withdraw from the areas in April. The SDF controls swathes of Syria&#39;s oil-rich north and northeast, with the backing of a US-led international coalition, was key to the territorial defeat of the ISIS in Syria in 2019. The March agreement on the Kurdish authority&#39;s integration into the state was supposed to be implemented by the end of 2025.&nbsp;The Kurds are pushing for decentralized rule, an idea which Syria&#39;s new authorities have rejected.

Middle East

The deadly clashes are the worst between the two sides, who have so far failed to implement a March deal to merge the Kurds' semi-autonomous administration and military into Syria's new government.

Syrians flee Aleppo's Kurdish areas as army declares them 'military zones'

Damascus: President Ahmed al-Sharaa will become Syria&#39;s first leader to pay an official visit to the White House on Monday, a crowning achievement for the ex-jihadist who, since taking power, has ended his country&#39;s isolation. Sharaa, whose rebel forces ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year, will meet President Donald Trump during the unprecedented visit. US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said earlier this month that Sharaa will &quot;hopefully&quot; sign an agreement to join the international US-led alliance against the Islamic State (IS). The United States plans to establish a military base near Damascus &quot;to coordinate humanitarian aid and observe developments between Syria and Israel,&quot; a diplomatic source in Syria told AFP. Just days before the visit, the United Nations Security Council voted on Thursday to lift sanctions on Sharaa, who until now had needed a UN exemption for every trip abroad. The resolution was drafted by the US, whose ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, said Sharaa&#39;s government was &quot;working hard to fulfill its commitments on countering terrorism and narcotics.&quot; In May, the interim leader met Trump for the first time in Riyadh during the US president&#39;s regional tour. Formerly affiliated with Al-Qaeda, Sharaa&#39;s group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), was delisted as a terrorist group by Washington as recently as July. Since taking power, Syria&#39;s new leaders have sought to break from their violent past and present a moderate image more tolerable to ordinary Syrians and foreign powers. &#39;Big statement&#39;&nbsp;Sharaa&#39;s trip to Washington will be &quot;the first in modern Syrian history for a Syrian president to the White House&quot;, historian Sami Moubayed told AFP. It will also be Sharaa&#39;s second visit to the United States after a landmark trip in September, where he became the first Syrian president in decades to address the UN General Assembly. &quot;Sharaa&#39;s visit to the White House is a declaration of a new chapter in US policy on the Middle East,&quot; said Nick Heras, an analyst at the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy. &quot;Trump is bringing Sharaa to the White House to make a big statement that Sharaa is not a terrorist anymore,&quot; he said. &quot;The Trump team sees Sharaa as a pragmatic and, importantly, pliable leader who, under American and Saudi guidance, will secure Syria as a strategic bulwark in the region for decades to come.&quot; Sharaa, for his part, is expected to seek funds for Syria. &quot;Sharaa wants Trump&#39;s blessing to unlock billions of dollars... both to kickstart the rehabilitation of Syria and to cement his control over the country indefinitely,&quot; Heras said. Reconstruction is one of the most significant challenges facing Syria&#39;s new Islamist authorities after 13 long years of brutal civil war. In October, the World Bank put a &quot;conservative best estimate&quot; of the cost of rebuilding Syria at $216 billion. &#39;Israeli influence&#39;&nbsp;A diplomatic source in Syria told AFP that the United States &quot;intends to establish a military base at the Mazzeh military airport near Damascus to coordinate humanitarian aid and observe developments between Syria and Israel.&quot; Another Syrian diplomatic source said, &quot;The question of Syria joining the anti-jihadist coalition will be at the top of the agenda&quot; for the White House meeting. The majority of US troops deployed in Syria are based in areas controlled by Kurdish forces in the northeast. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) played a vital role in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria, which ultimately led to the jihadist organization&#39;s territorial defeat in the country in 2019. The SDF are currently negotiating their integration into Syria&#39;s military. Trump and Sharaa will also discuss the direct negotiations that Syria and Israel, which remain technically at war, opened after Assad&#39;s overthrow. Trump has expressed hope that Syria will join other Arab countries that have normalized ties with Israel under the so-called Abraham Accords. In September, Sharaa said he hoped for a security deal to ease tensions with Israel but played down the prospect of recognition. Since December, Israel has deployed troops in a UN-patrolled buffer zone that separates the countries&#39; forces and has launched hundreds of strikes in Syria. Damascus has not retaliated. For Heras, &quot;Trump&#39;s vision for Syria includes significant Israeli influence over a strategic swath of the country for years to come.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;

President Ahmed al-Sharaa will become Syria's first leader to pay an official visit to the White House, a crowning achievement for the ex-jihadist who since taking power has ended his country's isolation

US ‘to set up base near Damascus’ as Syrian President visits

DAMASCUS: Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi has announced to AFP that he had reached a &quot;preliminary agreement&quot; with Damascus on the integration of his troops into Syria&#39;s military and security forces. Abdi, who heads the powerful Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), had met Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus last week, along with US envoy Tom Barrack and US commander Brad Cooper. While the Kurdish forces -- who control large swathes of Syria&#39;s oil-rich northeast -- had signed an agreement with the new Syrian authorities in March to merge their civil and military institutions, the deal&#39;s terms were not implemented. &quot;What is new in our recent talks in Damascus is the shared determination and strong will to accelerate the implementation of the terms&quot; of the agreement, Abdi told AFP in an interview at a military base in the northeastern city of Hasakeh on Sunday. &quot;The most important point is having reached a preliminary agreement regarding the mechanism for integrating the SDF and the (Kurdish) Internal Security Forces within the framework of defence and interior ministries,&quot; he added. The Washington-backed SDF and Kurdish security forces consist of around 100,000 male and female members, according to them. The SDF played a vital role in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria, which ultimately led to the jihadist organisation&#39;s territorial defeat in the country in 2019. Abdi said that military and security delegations from his forces are currently in Damascus to discuss the mechanism for their integration. Disagreements After the fall of longtime leader Bashar al-Assad in December, Sharaa announced the dissolution of all armed groups, to be absorbed by state institutions.&nbsp;Abdi explained that &quot;the SDF will be restructured through its integration into the defence ministry&quot;, as part of several formations. However, some disagreements remain. &quot;We demand a decentralised system in Syria... we have not agreed on it,&quot; he added, as they are &quot;still discussing finding a common formula acceptable to all&quot;. He stressed that they &quot;agree on the territorial integrity of Syria, the unity of national symbols, the independence of political decision-making in the country, and the fight against terrorism&quot;. &quot;We all agree that Syria should not return to the era of war, and that there should be stability and security. I believe these factors are sufficient for us to reach a permanent agreement.&quot; During the last meeting with Sharaa, Abdi said he had called for &quot;modifying or adding some clauses to the existing constitutional declaration&quot; announced in March, particularly those related to &quot;guaranteeing the rights of the Kurdish people in the constitution&quot;. &quot;There was a positive response to this matter, and we hope this will happen soon,&quot; he added. Abdi also expressed his gratitude to the United States and France for facilitating negotiations with Damascus. Asked about Damascus&#39;s main backer Turkey, which has always been hostile to the SDF, Abdi said &quot;any success of the negotiations will certainly depend on Turkey&#39;s role&quot;, expressing hope that it will play a &quot;supportive and contributing role in the ongoing negotiation process&quot;. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the SDF on Wednesday to &quot;keep their word&quot; and &quot;complete their integration with Syria&quot;. When questioned on the region&#39;s fossil fuel reserves, Abdi noted they &quot;have not yet discussed the oil issue, but it will certainly be addressed in upcoming meetings&quot;.&nbsp; &quot;Oil and other underground resources in northeastern Syria to belong to all Syrians, and their revenues and revenues must be distributed fairly across all Syrian provinces&quot;.

Syrian men attend their noon prayer, left, as others play racket ball at a public beach on the Mediterranean sea, in the coastal city of Latakia, Syria. (AP)

While the Kurdish forces -- who control large swathes of Syria's oil-rich northeast -- had signed an agreement with the new Syrian authorities in March to merge their civil and military institutions, the deal's terms were not implemented.

Syrian Kurdish leader says reached first deal on merging forces with regular army

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ISLAMABAD: Syria&rsquo;s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa sat for an interview with former&nbsp;Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)&nbsp;Director David Petraeus in New York earlier this week.&nbsp;Petraeus, who led US forces during the Iraq War, had once overseen the capture and imprisonment of al-Sharaa between 2006 and 2011.&nbsp;Once a militant leader opposing the US presence, Al-Sharaa founded the al-Nusra Front in 2012 to fight President Bashar al-Assad&rsquo;s regime. Initially aligned with al-Qaeda, the group severed ties in 2016 and merged into Hay&rsquo;at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in 2017, with Al-Sharaa as leader.&nbsp;HTS was designated a terrorist group by the US in 2018, but that designation was revoked in July 2025 following Assad&rsquo;s ouster and a shift in US policy. Al-Sharaa, who led the campaign that toppled Assad in late 2024, became Syria&rsquo;s interim president in January 2025. A $10 million US bounty on him was lifted in December 2024.&nbsp;A symbolic exchangeThe interview with Petraeus took place on the sidelines of the 2025 Concordia Annual Summit, a global affairs forum held in parallel with the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York. The forum is known for convening political leaders, business executives, and civil society organizations to promote public-private collaboration and dialogue.&nbsp;Taking the stage together, both al-Sharaa and Petraeus acknowledged the unusual nature of their conversation.&nbsp;Petraeus concluded his interview with these remarks: &ldquo;We thank you for sharing your vision today. We wish you strength and wisdom in the difficult work ahead. We obviously hope for your success, inshallah, because at the end of the day, your success is our success.&rdquo;&nbsp;Al-Sharaa at UNAl-Sharaa&#39;s appearance at the UN General Assembly marked a historic moment: he is the first Syrian head of state to attend the assembly in nearly 60 years.&nbsp;His delegation arrived in New York on Sunday, and his schedule included meetings with various international representatives, including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. On Monday, he addressed events held on the sidelines of the General Assembly.&nbsp;The Concordia Summit itself is a prominent event, having hosted more than 300 speakers and thousands of participants from over 100 countries in previous years. Past attendees include UN Secretary-General Ant&oacute;nio Guterres, former US President Joe Biden, and billionaire philanthropist Warren Buffett.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, former US Army General David Howell Petraeus

Petraeus, who interviews Syrian President al-Sharaa, once commanded US forces during the Iraq War and oversaw his capture and imprisonment from 2006 to 2011.

Articles tagged with "Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa"

Syrians flee Aleppo's Kurdish areas as army declares them 'military zones'

US ‘to set up base near Damascus’ as Syrian President visits

Syrian Kurdish leader says reached first deal on merging forces with regular army

Al-Sharaa interviewed by former CIA director who arrested him