ISTANBUL 

The Syrian Army warned on Thursday that it will target sites of the terrorist organization YPG/SDF obstructing civilian movement from eastern Aleppo.

In a statement carried by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), the army’s Operations Command said groups affiliated with the YPG, allied with the SDF, are blocking civilians from passing through a humanitarian corridor near Deir Hafir, east of Aleppo city.

The army said it has extended the opening of the humanitarian corridor for an additional day, on Friday from 9 am to 5 pm local time, to allow civilians to leave safely.

It warned that any SDF site obstructing civilian passage will be targeted “in an appropriate manner,” adding that all field preparations have been completed to secure the area.

The operations command also urged civilians to immediately stay away from any locations affiliated with the SDF.

Syrian civilians who managed to flee the area told Anadolu earlier that the SDF was preventing tens of thousands of people from leaving Deir Hafir in an attempt to use civilians as human shields.

Separately, Alikhbariah TV reported that civilians began leaving Deir Hafir via secondary routes, after SDF forces prevented them from crossing through the Hamimeh crossing, which had been designated by the army as the official passage.

The measures came after the army earlier detected the arrival of more armed groups affiliated with SDF and former regime elements near the towns of Maskanah and Deir Hafir, prompting a strengthened military presence in the area.

Since last week, the SDF has shelled residential neighborhoods, civilian facilities, and Syrian Army positions in Aleppo, killing 24 people, wounding nearly 130 others, and displacing about 165,000 residents from the Ashrafieh and Sheikh Maqsoud districts, according to official figures.

In March 2025, the Syrian presidency announced 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 a separate agreement concerning the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods, stipulating that both districts remain administrative parts of Aleppo city while respecting their local particularities.

The agreement included provisions banning armed manifestations, restricting weapons to internal security forces, and requiring the withdrawal of SDF military forces to areas east of the Euphrates in northeastern Syria.

However, authorities said the SDF has failed to comply with the terms of those agreements.

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