The forces of the interim authority imposed a tight siege on the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods, which have a predominantly Kurdish population, in the city of Aleppo in northern Syria. The siege included preventing civilian movement, cutting off basic supplies, and the disruption of communication services, alongside military attacks that resulted in civilian deaths and injuries and caused extensive damage to property.
Video footage dated 23 December 2025 showed forces of the interim authority, “Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham,” preventing civilians from entering the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods. Sources from inside Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood reported that the forces of the interim authority allow residents only to leave without enabling them to return, while continuing to prohibit the entry of energy materials, particularly diesel and gasoline needed to operate electricity generators, in addition to preventing the entry of basic materials.
The sources also confirmed the cutting of internet and telecommunications services to the two neighborhoods. According to conversations within a private governmental “WhatsApp” group dated 22 December 2025, obtained by “Rights and Monitor Syria,” which includes officials responsible for communications in the city of Aleppo, it was confirmed that owners of private internet distribution services were forced to cut internet access, with threats of imposing penalties against violators.
On 22 December 2025, the forces of the interim authority carried out military attacks targeting the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods, using heavy weapons, artillery, and mortar shells, leading to civilian casualties.
The attacks resulted in the killing of the citizen Fadwa Mohammad Al-Kurdi (57 years old), in addition to the injury of 19 civilians, including children and women.
Images circulated on social media showed the destruction inflicted on civilians’ homes and commercial shops as a result of the shelling that struck the two neighborhoods on the evening of that day.
The attacks occurred amid violent clashes in the surroundings of the two neighborhoods between Kurdish internal security forces and militants of the interim authority. The shelling continued repeatedly, exacerbating the humanitarian situation and increasing the number of wounded. This coincided with the circulation of a video recording of a religious sheikh loyal to the interim authority in which he called for general mobilization against the Kurdish forces in Aleppo, including phrases that fall within hate speech.
Media footage also showed armed members of the interim authority’s forces directing artillery barrels toward the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods, in addition to broadcasting scenes indicating the firing of heavy-weapon shells toward the two neighborhoods.
In the late hours of the evening of 22 December 2025, the Kurdish forces and the forces of the interim authority reached a truce, under which hostilities and shelling ceased, while the field situation remained cautious.
This attack comes within the framework of an ongoing siege imposed by the interim authorities on the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods since September 2025, which has included preventing the entry of basic materials, especially fuel and construction materials, in addition to imposing mobile checkpoints, strict inspection measures, and restrictions on the movement of Kurdish residents to other neighborhoods of the city of Aleppo.
This context reflects a continuous pattern of violations affecting the fundamental rights of civilians, foremost among them the right to life and security, freedom of movement, and access to basic necessities, amid demands by the residents of the two neighborhoods for the concerned parties to assume their legal and humanitarian responsibilities, lift the siege, and stop all forms of attacks and violations against the civilian population.
