This photo released by the official Syrian news agency SANA shows flames rising from a building after clashes broke out between security forces and Kurdish fighters in neighborhoods of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, December 22, 2025. AP
The Syrian government and Kurdish-led forces on Monday, December 22, ordered their fighters to cease fire following deadly clashes that came as Turkey's top diplomat urged the Kurds to integrate into the Syrian army.
At least three people were killed in the clashes, which came ahead of a deadline for implementing a March 10 agreement between Damascus and the Kurds to integrate the SDF –which controls vast swathes of Syria's oil-rich Northeast – into the state.
State news agency SANA cited the defense ministry as saying that the Syrian army's general staff had issued "an order to stop targeting the sources of fire." The US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces [SDF] meanwhile said they had "issued directives to our forces to cease responding to attacks."
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