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'

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: More than a million Syrians have returned home over the past year, but millions remain displaced within the country, according to a new United Nations report. Over 1.2 million Syrians crossed back into Syria from abroad since December 8, 2024, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) reported. Most returnees came from Turkey, followed by Lebanon and Jordan, with smaller numbers arriving from Iraq, Egypt and beyond the region. While more than 1.9 million internally displaced people have returned to their home areas or intended destinations within the country, including over one million who left camps and collective sites in the north, around seven million people remain displaced inside the country. UNHCR data show that return movements are taking place across multiple governorates, including Aleppo, Homs, Damascus and Hama. Meanwhile internal returns are concentrated in northern Syria. The report said the figures reflect continuing population shifts more than a decade after the start of the conflict. The number of people returning from neighboring countries is also continually rising. Turkey&rsquo;s interior minister reported that 550,000 Syrians have returned since December 2024, bringing total voluntary returns from Turkey to 1.29 million since 2016. From Lebanon, an estimated 362,027 Syrians have gone back, and from Jordan, about 167,000 refugees registered with UNHCR have returned since December 2024. Smaller numbers have also returned from Iraq and Egypt. The report said the total number of Syrians who have returned either from abroad or from internal displacement since December 2024 exceeds three million, even as millions remain uprooted throughout the country.

More than a million Syrians have returned home since late 2024, while about seven million remain displaced inside the country, according to a new UNHCR report.

Articles tagged with "syrian civil war"

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

Syria: Millions return home but millions still displaced