On the night of 26 December 2025, the forces of the interim authority “Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham” launched a wide-scale attack using heavy machine guns and artillery on the Sheikh Maqsoud and al-Ashrafiyah neighborhoods, which have a predominantly Kurdish population, in the city of Aleppo in northern Syria. The attack coincided with the deployment of tanks and heavy military vehicles to the vicinity of the two neighborhoods, in a military escalation that threatens the security and safety of the civilian population.
Local sources reported that one of the Kurdish Internal Security Forces checkpoints, in the vicinity of al-Sheihan Roundabout in the city of Aleppo, was shelled from positions affiliated with the forces of the interim authority, shortly before the attack on the two neighborhoods. This development came after days of a tightened siege imposed by the forces of the interim authority on Sheikh Maqsoud and al-Ashrafiyah.
On 22 December 2025, the forces of the interim authority carried out attacks targeting the same two neighborhoods using heavy weapons, artillery, and mortar shells, amid violent clashes with the Kurdish Internal Security Forces in the surrounding area. These attacks resulted in the killing of the citizen Fadwa Mohammad al-Kurdi, aged 57, and the injury of 19 other civilians, including women and children.
The shelling continued repeatedly during that period, leading to a worsening of humanitarian conditions and an increase in the number of wounded. This was accompanied by the circulation of a video recording of a religious cleric loyal to the interim authority calling for general mobilization against the Kurdish forces in Aleppo, containing phrases that fall within hate speech. Media footage also showed gunmen affiliated with the forces of the interim authority directing artillery barrels toward the Sheikh Maqsoud and al-Ashrafiyah neighborhoods, with broadcasts showing the firing of heavy-weapon shells toward residential areas.
In the late hours of the evening of 22 December 2025, the Kurdish forces and the forces of the interim authority reached a temporary truce, under which hostilities and shelling ceased, while the field situation remained tense and cautious.
The attack of 26 December 2025 comes within the context of an ongoing siege imposed by the forces of the interim authority on the Sheikh Maqsoud and al-Ashrafiyah neighborhoods since September 2025. This siege has included preventing the entry of essential materials, particularly fuel and construction materials, in addition to the imposition of mobile checkpoints, strict inspection measures, and restrictions on the movement of Kurdish residents toward other neighborhoods of the city of Aleppo.
This reality reflects a continuous pattern of violations affecting the basic 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 to halt the attacks, lift the siege, and hold the relevant parties legally and humanely responsible toward the civilian population.
