Syria: Kurdish forces leave Aleppo after days of fighting

Syrian army forces have taken control of the Kurdish-dominated districts in Aleppo after a ceasefire was announced.

The last Kurdish forces present in Aleppo, along with a number of civilians, were transported out on buses after a ceasefire was reached with the Syrian government, the Syrian state news agency reported, with confirmation from a Kurdish commander.

Fighting had raged in Syria's largest city since Tuesday amid tensions over how to integrate the various militant groups into the new military structure.

At least 22 people were killed in the clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced.

Government forces have been deployed in the neighborhoods that had been under control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) for years during Syria's civil war.

What did Kurdish forces say about the evacuation from Aleppo?

"Through international mediation to halt the attacks and violations against our people in Aleppo, we have reached an understanding leading to a ceasefire and the safe evacuation of martyrs, the wounded, trapped civilians, and fighters from the Achrafieh and Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhoods to northern and eastern Syria," SDF commander Mazloum Abdi said in a post on X.

He went on to call for "mediators to uphold their promises to stop the violations and work towards the safe return of the displaced to their homes."

Reuters and Associated Press reporters said they saw men, women and children being put onto buses by Syrian army forces to be taken to displacement camps.

Reuters also reported some 100 men, identified as Kurdish internal Asayesh security forces, being put on buses. The Asayesh later denied the men were fighters, saying instead they were civilians being forceably displaced.

How has the US responded to the clashes in Aleppo?

The ceasefire comes after US Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack met with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa and other top officials in Damascus on Saturday.

He called on both sides in the conflict to end the fighting.

"Violence risks undermining the progress achieved since the fall of the Assad regime and invites external interference that serves no party's interests," Barrack said in comments posted on X.

"We urge all parties to exercise maximum restraint, immediately cease hostilities, and return to dialogue," he added.

The US envoy reiterated that Washington's objective "remains a sovereign, unified Syria — at peace with itself and its neighbors — where equality, justice, and opportunity are extended to all its people."

Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko