The US envoy to Syria is urging the Syrian government and Kurdish authorities to “return to dialogue” after deadly clashes in Aleppo.
Tom Barrack said he met with the Syrian president on Saturday Ahmed al-Sharaa “To discuss the latest developments in Aleppo and the broader path to Syria’s historic transition.”
“President Trump recognizes this moment as a critical opportunity for a new Syria: a unified nation in which all communities, including Arabs, Kurds, Druze, Christians, Alawites, Turkmen, Assyrians, and others, are treated with respect and dignity and given meaningful participation in government and security institutions,” Barrack said in X. forward”.
Clashes broke out on Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish northern districts of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the country’s main Kurdish-led force, failed to make progress on how to merge their forces into the national army. Security forces have since captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.
At least 22 people have been killed and dozens wounded in five days of fighting between Syrian security forces and Kurdish fighters.
On Saturday, Syria’s state news agency SANA reported that two Kurdish fighters blew themselves up while surrounded by security forces, causing no casualties.
On Saturday afternoon, an explosive drone hit the governor’s building in Aleppo shortly after two Cabinet ministers and a local official held a press conference on developments in the city, state television said. There was no immediate word on the casualties.
Syrian state television broadcast footage purportedly showing the drone exploding on the building, and attributed the attack to Kurdish fighters. The country’s main Kurdish-led force denied the reports, saying its fighters had not attacked a civilian target.
Since the early hours, Syrian security forces were searching the neighborhood after calling on residents to stay at home for their own safety.
A few days earlier, hundreds of people who had fled the neighborhood were waiting at the gates of Sheikh Maqsoud to enter when the military operations were over.
The fighting also displaced more than 140,000 people.
Syrian security forces began deploying on Saturday in a suburb of the northern city
Syrian Information Minister Hamza al-Mustafa told state television that Kurdish fighters used civilian buildings, including hospitals and clinics, in the fighting. Each side has accused the other of starting the violence and deliberately targeting neighborhoods and civilian infrastructure, including ambulance crews and hospitals.
The Kurdish-led Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, which controls much of Syria’s northeast, said security forces had targeted the Khaled Fajr hospital in Sheikh Maqsoud, putting the lives of patients and paramedics at risk. He called on the international community to intervene to force government forces to stop the bombing.
State television reported that at least one security member was injured when a drone launched by the SDF hit the neighborhood.
Associated Press reporters said bursts of gunfire could be heard as government-deployed drones flew over Sheikh Maqsoud.
The Syrian army declared the neighborhood a “closed military zone” since Friday night as it launched a “cleansing operation”.
Barrack called on all parties to “use maximum restraint, immediately stop hostilities and return to dialogue.”
“Violence risks undermining the progress made since the fall of the Assad regime and invites external interference that does not serve the interests of the parties,” he said.
In Jordan, state media reported, Barrack also discussed developments in Syria with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi. Jordan offered support to efforts to consolidate the ceasefire and the peaceful withdrawal of Kurdish fighters from Aleppo, media reported.