The Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, predominantly Kurdish, in the city of Aleppo, witnessed on Saturday, 10 January/January 2026, a wide-scale arrest campaign that targeted hundreds of Kurdish civilians, particularly men, carried out by the interim authorities represented by “Hayat Tahrir al-Sham,” coinciding with a military escalation and intense shelling that struck the neighborhood.
According to local sources, forces affiliated with the interim authorities stormed the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood and began carrying out mass arrests of Kurdish civilians. The sources reported that a large number of detainees were transported by buses, while the implementing party announced that these civilians were “fighters from the Kurdish forces” in the neighborhood, without any information indicating the existence of legal procedures or the filing of clear charges.
Circulating footage showed the buses transporting the detainees being subjected to insults and verbal attacks by journalists who were present on the outskirts of the neighborhood during the transfer process, in a scene considered offensive to journalistic ethics and a violation of professional coverage standards.
A live broadcast by the Kurdish channel “Rudaw” on the same day also documented armed men affiliated with the interim authorities arresting young men who were accompanying their families while they were leaving on foot from one of the entrances of the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, without providing clear reasons for the arrest.
These arrests come in the context of an ongoing military escalation that the area has been witnessing since Tuesday, 6 January/January 2026, as the “Rights Monitor” platform documented that the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood was subjected to intense and repeated shelling by forces of the interim authority.
In the same context, a serious crime was recorded in the neighborhood, consisting of throwing a girl from the top of one of the residential buildings, in an incident documented by a video clip published on 10 January/January 2026. The recording, filmed by elements affiliated with the interim authorities themselves, shows the moment the crime was committed and includes insulting remarks directed at the victim after she was thrown, constituting a grave violation of the right to life and human dignity.
There were also reports of repeated targeting of “Khaled Fajr” Hospital, a civilian medical facility protected under the rules of international humanitarian law, which was subjected to intensive shelling in recent days, leading to severe damage and the outbreak of fires in its building, according to visual documentation.
These facts indicate a pattern of serious violations against Kurdish civilians in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, including arbitrary arrest, excessive violence, and the targeting of civilians and medical facilities, amid an ongoing military escalation that exacerbates the risks threatening the lives of residents and their fundamental rights.
