As thousands of Kurds flee fighting in the Syrian city of Aleppo, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar denounced the Syrian government on Thursday for shelling two Kurdish neighborhoods.
“The attacks by Syrian regime forces on the Kurdish minority in the city of Aleppo are serious and dangerous. The international community in general and the West in particular have a debt of honor towards the Kurds who fought fiercely and successfully against ISIS,” Sa’ar tweeted.
“Systematic and murderous oppression of the various minorities in Syria contradicts the promises for a ‘new Syria.’ Silence on the part of the international community will lead to an escalation of violence by the Syrian regime.”
This comes after the Ahmed al-Sharaa-led Damascus government declared a curfew in the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods in Aleppo from 3 p.m. on Wednesday, state-run Syrian Arab News Agency confirmed.
The two areas have been declared a "closed military zone," and the government's statement called onresidents to "stay away from Syrian Democratic Forces personnel."
Curfew in Kurdish Damascus neighborhoods
The SDF, a US-backed, largely Kurdish force, has accused Damascus of carrying out "a dangerous and unprecedented escalation," including shelling and drone strikes on the northern Syrian city.
SDF claims that the death toll before the curfew was imposed had "risen to seven civilians killed, with 52 injured," by government forces' attacks.
The North Press Agency, which describes itself as independent but is largely pro-SDF, noted that Kurds in Kobani protested in solidarity with SDF and Aleppo, holding a city-wide strike, closing stores.
The Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES), an autonomous region, of which the SDF is the military wing, stressed that the SDF is not present in the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods and condemned Damascus's actions, NPA reported.
Damascus state-run Al Ikbariya TV claimed that 2,324 civilians had been "evacuated" from the neighborhoods, as of 2:40 p.m.
The government opened humanitarian corridors for civilians to flee flashpoint neighborhoods, transporting them by city buses. A source from the government's civil defense rescue force said an estimated 10,000 people had fled.
"We move them safely to the places they want to go to according to their desire or to displaced shelters," said Faisal Mohammad Ali, operations chief of the civil defense force in Aleppo.
The latest fighting has disrupted civilian life in a leading Syrian city, closing the airport and a highway to Turkey, halting operations at factories in an industrial zone, and paralyzing major roads into the city center.
The Damascus government said its forces were responding to rocket fire, drone attacks, and shelling from SDF-held neighborhoods, but Kurdish forces said they held Damascus "fully and directly responsible for... the dangerous escalation that threatens the lives of thousands of civilians and undermines stability in the city."
Kurdish semi-autonomous zone established amid ongoing Syrian civil war
During Syria's 14-year civil war, Kurdish authorities began running a semi-autonomous zone in northeast Syria, as well as in parts of Aleppo city.
They have been reluctant to give up those zones and integrate fully into the Islamist-led government that took over after ex-President Bashar al-Assad's ousting in late 2024.
Last year, the Damascus government reached a deal with the SDF that planned for a full integration by the end of 2025, but the two sides have made little progress, each accusing the other of stalling or acting in bad faith.
Failure to integrate the SDF into Syria's army risks further violence and could potentially draw in Turkey, which has threatened an incursion against Kurdish fighters it views as terrorists.
Reuters contributed to this report.