Tensions persist in Syria’s Aleppo despite ceasefire
Shafaq News – Aleppo
Tensions continued in the Syrian city of Aleppo on Wednesday between Internal Security Forces (Asayish) and Syrian government forces despite both sides announcing a ceasefire.
The Asayish is the internal security and police force operating under the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria and works alongside the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
According to Shafaq News correspondent, several families have been displaced from the Sheikh Maqsoud and Al-Ashrafiyah neighborhoods and surrounding areas amid fears of renewed clashes.
Syrian government forces are allowing civilians to leave the neighborhoods but are preventing their return, while barring traders’ vehicles from transporting vegetables, food, and basic supplies into the two areas since the outbreak of fighting.
قائد الأمن الداخلي في محافظة حلب، العقيد محمد عبد الغني:التزاماً بمسؤولياتنا الوطنية في حماية المواطنين وصون الممتلكات العامة والخاصة، تعمل قواتنا على إخلاء المدنيين وتأمين سلامتهم في مختلف المناطق التي تشهد اعتداءات من قبل ميليشيا قسد، pic.twitter.com/dym9bvZVb7
— وزارة الداخلية السورية (@syrianmoi) December 22, 2025
Salma Al-Sheikh, a resident of Al-Ashrafiyah, told Shafaq News that while clashes have subsided and calm has returned to front-line areas, military tension remains high between the Asayish and government forces, noting that Syrian authorities have erected concrete barriers and new checkpoints around the two neighborhoods.
Meanwhile, media activist Sirwan Bakr told Shafaq News that electricity has been completely cut off from large parts of both neighborhoods following heavy clashes over the past two days, adding that some families have fled to Afrin and other areas amid fears of renewed fighting or a prolonged siege, with similar displacement reported along nearby government-controlled zones and contact lines.
Aleppo’s Health Directorate announced on Tuesday that the number of civilian deaths from the clashes in the city had risen to four, with nine wounded, while the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) reported 17 civilians injured in the Sheikh Maqsoud and Al-Ashrafiyah neighborhoods and the death of a 57-year-old woman.
استُشهد طفل ووالدته، وأُصيب خمسة عشر آخرون، معظمهم من النساء والأطفال، في مدينة حلب، جرّاء القصف العشوائي وعمليات القنص التي ارتكبتها "قسد" في مناطق مأهولة بالسكان.
— وزارة الداخلية السورية (@syrianmoi) December 22, 2025
Update | The number of wounded has risen to 17 civilians and a 57-year-old woman has died as a result of the rocket and tank shelling carried out by Damascus government factions on the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods in Aleppo.
— Syrian Democratic Forces (@SDF_Syria) December 22, 2025
Both sides traded blame for the escalation, with the Asayish reporting earlier attacks on their positions, while Syria’s Interior Ministry accused SDF elements stationed at joint checkpoints of sparking the clashes.
