Clashes erupted between Syrian security forces and Kurdish fighters on Monday (December 22, 2025) as top Turkish officials visited Damascus ahead of a deadline to implement a deal between the government and Kurdish-led forces in the country's northeast.
The complex struggle for ‘Kurdistan’
Syria's state-run SANA news agency reported that two civilians were killed and 15 were wounded by shelling, and that dozens of families fled two neighbourhoods of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, which has seen previous outbreaks of violence.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, said 17 people were wounded and a woman was killed. The conflicting casualty reports could not immediately be reconciled.
Late on Monday evening, the Syrian Defence Ministry announced an order to halt fire.
