Stability is gradually returning to Aleppo, which has been rocked by days of clashes between U.S.-backed terrorists and the Syrian army, Aleppo's governor announced on Sunday.
In a social media post, Governor Azzam al-Gharib reassured residents that, "The security situation is witnessing a gradual return to stability in the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods, so that the city may return to a state of safety and stability."
"The page of anxiety has been turned," adding that Aleppo "has returned safe with its people, strong in their unity and fortified by their will," he said.
His statement followed intense clashes in two neighborhoods throughout the week that prompted evacuations and a massive offensive to purge members of the YPG, the Syrian wing of the PKK, which killed tens of thousands of people in Türkiye in the past.
Al-Gharib noted that, "The relevant authorities are continuing their field work on an ongoing basis to stabilize security and ensure the return of normal life in all neighborhoods," concluding that: "Aleppo today is safe, and tomorrow it will be even more stable, God willing."
Hours before, buses carrying YPG terrorists, which, ironically, were the same buses they sought to stop as they carried evacuees earlier, left Aleppo overnight.
Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) said they were placed in a convoy of buses and ambulances after accepting evacuation terms, with another group evacuated from Yasin Hospital to the same destination.
The terrorists are being transferred to the town of Tabqa, west of the Euphrates River, an area under YPG control.
The army had earlier announced that all military operations in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood were halted as of 3 p.m. local time (12 p.m. GMT) Saturday.
Since Tuesday, the YPG had shelled residential neighborhoods, civilian facilities and Syrian Army positions in Aleppo, killing 23 people, wounding more than 100 and displacing about 165,000 residents from the Ashrafieh and Sheikh Maqsoud districts, according to official figures.
The YPG occupies swathes of Syria’s oil-rich north and northeast and acts as the main ally of the U.S. under the pretext of fighting Daesh terrorists. It has carried out multiple attacks across Aleppo since Jan. 6, after occupying several areas in the city, where fighting displaced some 140,000 Syrians.
The group signed a deal with the post-Assad administration in Damascus on March 10, 2025. The agreement stipulates the integration of the YPG forces into the new Syrian army. Yet, the YPG appears unwilling to adhere to the deal and floats the idea of decentralization for Syria’s Kurds.
The attacks in Aleppo were a sign of the YPG’s insistence on maintaining a so-called autonomy in parts of Syria.
Turkish security sources told media outlets over the weekend that the group tried to portray the clashes as a conflict between Arabs and Kurds in Syria, but highlighted that it actually stemmed from the YPG’s concern that they would lose their precious resources in Syria.
Sources said the new Syrian government had been engaged in talks with YPG for the past 10 months for leaving Aleppo’s two neighborhoods, but YPG stalled the talks while continuing attacks on central Aleppo. Sources said the fragmented state of Aleppo has threatened regional security and stability as well as the economic development of Syria, which struggles to recover from years of civil war.
Sources also said that YPG has been willing to compromise initially over Aleppo, but “Qandil” ordered remaining members of the terrorist group in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to “fight” after the Syrian army managed to evacuate Ashrafiyeh. Qandil, a mountainous area in northern Iraq, is where senior cadres of the PKK are hiding out.
The YPG has remained a thorn in the way of advancing the terror-free Türkiye initiative launched in 2024. The initiative, the brainchild of government ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Turkish government, involves the disarmament of the PKK. The YPG did not join a call by PKK’s jailed ringleader Abdullah Öcalan to lay down arms, though Qandil appeared to comply with it, as the first batch of terrorists openly burned down weapons last year in a ceremony in northern Iraq. However, security sources say Qandil was responsible for deaths in Syria during the clashes, and it instructed the YPG to utilize human shields and take over a hospital in the Aleppo neighborhoods, exploiting the Syrian army’s utmost care to prevent any civilian casualties.
Sources said Turkish intelligence monitored the developments in Syria and exerted efforts to resolve the issue through dialogue.
“The PKK is trying to portray the developments in the region as an ethnic attack against the Kurdish people. In reality, these events amount to nothing more than an armed terrorist group disregarding the safety of the Kurdish people it claims to represent in pursuit of its own interests. What is happening in the region is not an Arab-Kurdish conflict, as the PKK has portrayed it. The root cause of the clashes is the PKK’s concern about exploiting Syria’s future and resources. The PKK’s pressure on the YPG also undermines the prospects for a political settlement in Syria,” sources said.
“The Kurdish people are an integral and essential part of Syria. Following the collapse of the regime, divisive policies based on ethnic and religious lines have been abandoned in Syria. The primary goal and effort is to enable all components of Syrian society to build a shared future through a framework of reconciliation and consensus that includes all groups in the country,” they added.
Sources said that what happened in Aleppo would not derail the terror-free Türkiye initiative.
Türkiye had earlier warned the YPG to speed up the integration process with the Syrian army and implied a military operation may be in the works if the group fails to do so. Türkiye carried out cross-border operations during the Syrian civil war to drive out the YPG from areas near the Turkish-Syrian border. It succeeded in curbing rocket attacks on Turkish towns by the group.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Friday it was clear that the YPG only changes its position "when it faces force."
"Everyone sees and knows that (YPG) is an actor that only changes its position when it faces force, when force is applied," Fidan said in a live interview with Turkish public news broadcaster TRT Haber.
"As an extension of the PKK, the YPG has this characteristic feature: It has no chance of doing anything through dialogue on its own without force or the threat of force. It either has to see force or face the threat of force," said Fidan, referring to developments in Syria.
Emphasizing that the YPG has taken an uncompromising stance against the Damascus administration, Fidan said.
"They say, ‘If I do not accept, I will call other regional and global actors to my side; I have developed certain things with them through the story of the so-called fight against Daesh.' Because of that narrative, there are meetings with some senators and others. They have ongoing contacts with Israel as well."
Stressing that the YPG needs to see that it cannot get anywhere with such actions, Fidan said: "These relations will not take you anywhere. What you need to do is seek genuine solutions from the people of the region.
"These maximalist attitudes, these deceptive moves, constantly saying you are in favor of agreement and dialogue while in reality doing the exact opposite, not changing your hard-core position by even a centimeter, everyone sees and knows that it is an actor that changes position only when it sees force or when force is applied," he added.
Fidan noted that he has said from the outset that the relevant units, Turkish intelligence and diplomats have conveyed the issue to their counterparts.
Saying that the integration model is a realistic project, Fidan noted that what is unrealistic is "the YPG's lack of willingness to enter into this process."
"The preferences, attitudes and solution proposals put forward by the U.S. and regional actors, including Türkiye, are important, but I repeat: The path that can be taken without resorting to violence is clear, and what needs to be done is clear," he said, adding that the goals of countries in the region and those of the U.S. overlapped in Syria.
"Only Israel does not overlap. Israel is currently an entity that ensures its own security through a divide-and-rule tactic, keeping surrounding countries weak," he said.
Pointing out that this runs counter to realities in the region, Fidan said that if Tel Aviv wants a genuine embrace of the region, it must act accordingly.
"If they truly care about the future of the Kurds and their welfare, they must stand within qualified, genuine, peace-based solutions that will not further turn them into enemies of the peoples and states of the region," he said.
Stating that there is no need to experience the ordeal and the YPG must now abandon its line, Fidan said, "They should now come to the path that must be followed through peace and dialogue."
