ISTANBUL

At least 24 civilians have been killed and 129 others wounded in attacks by the terrorist organization YPG/SDF on residential neighborhoods in the northern city of Aleppo since Tuesday, Syrian health authorities said Sunday.

Munir al-Mohammad, media director at Aleppo’s Health Directorate, said the casualties were caused by repeated strikes targeting civilian areas, according to Syria’s news agency SANA.

In response, the Syrian Army launched a “limited” military operation starting Thursday, regaining control of the targeted neighborhoods and allowing armed SDF members to withdraw toward northeastern Syria, where the group maintains its main presence.

Syrian military officials said the SDF escalated its attacks by deploying more than 10 drones against Aleppo and its civilian institutions, marking what the army described as a new phase of military escalation.

The Syrian Army said Saturday that it had halted all military operations in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood in Aleppo as of 3 pm local time (1200GMT).

In March 2025, the Syrian presidency announced the signing of an agreement for the SDF’s integration into state institutions, reaffirming the country's territorial unity and rejecting any attempts at division.

In April 2025, Syrian authorities signed an agreement with the SDF concerning the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods, stipulating that both districts would be considered administrative parts of the city of Aleppo while respecting their local particularities.

The agreement also included provisions to ban armed manifestations, restrict weapons to internal security forces, and require the withdrawal of SDF military forces to areas east of the Euphrates River in northeastern Syria.

But authorities said that in the months since the SDF has not shown any efforts to meet the terms of the agreements.

The Syrian government has intensified efforts to maintain security across the country since the ouster of the Bashar al-Assad regime in December 2024, after 24 years in power.