Syria announces ceasefire after days of clashes with Kurdish fighters in Aleppo

Syria’s Defense Ministry announced a ceasefire on Friday (January 9, 2026) 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 a.m. 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.

U.S. 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.”

Mr. Barrack said the U.S. was working with the parties to extend the ceasefire beyond the six-hour deadline.

Some 142,000 people have been displaced by the fighting, which broke out on Tuesday (January 6) with exchanges of shelling and drone strikes.

Each side has accused the other of starting the violence and of deliberately targeting civilian neighbourhoods and infrastructure, including ambulance crews and hospitals.

Kurdish forces said at least 12 civilians were killed in the Kurdish-majority neighbourhoods, while government officials reported at least nine civilians were killed in the surrounding government-controlled areas in the fighting.

Dozens more on both sides have been wounded. It was not clear how many fighters were killed on each side.

The clashes come amid an impasse in political negotiations between the central State and the SDF.

The leadership in Damascus under interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa had signed a deal in March last year with the SDF, which controls much of the northeast, for it to merge with the Syrian army by the end of 2025. There have been disagreements on how it would happen.

Some of the factions that make up the new Syrian army, formed after the fall of former President Bashar Assad in a rebel offensive in December 2024, were previously Turkey-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.

The SDF has for years been the main U.S. partner in Syria in fighting against the Islamic State group, but Turkey considers the SDF a terrorist organisation because of its association with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has waged a long-running insurgency in Turkey. A peace process is now underway.

Despite the long-running U.S. support for the SDF, the Trump administration in the U.S. has also developed close ties with al-Sharaa’s government and has pushed the Kurds to implement the March deal.

U.S. welcomes ceasefire

Mr. Barrack on Friday (January 9) welcomed a ceasefire in the city of Aleppo after days of deadly fighting between the army and Kurdish fighters forced thousands of civilians to flee.

“The United States warmly welcomes the temporary ceasefire achieved last night in Aleppo’s Ashrafiyeh and Sheikh Maqsoud neighbourhoods and extends 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,” Mr. Barrack wrote on X.

(with inputs from AP and AFP)