Residents flee the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria, on January 9, 2026, GHAITH ALSAYED / AP
Syria's army renewed strikes on a Kurdish district of Aleppo on Friday, January 9, after fighters from the minority refused to leave in defiance of a ceasefire that sought to halt days of fighting. The government and Kurdish forces have traded blame over who started the violence in Syria's second city on Tuesday as they struggle to implement a deal to merge the Kurds' de facto autonomous administration and military into the country's new government.
At least 21 civilians have been killed according to figures from both sides and tens of thousands have fled the worst clashes in Aleppo since Syria's new Islamist authorities took power. The fighting presents yet another challenge for a country struggling to forge a new path since the ousting of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad a year ago.
Early Friday, Syrian authorities announced a truce with Kurdish forces linked to the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and said fighters and their light weapons would be sent to Kurdish areas further east. But Kurdish fighters rejected any "surrender" and said they would stay and defend their districts.
