The Syria today, with the tolerance of the West, called on Kurdish fighters who remain in a neighborhood of Aleppo to surrender, after resuming bombardments in an effort to drive them out of the area following several days of fighting.

The clashes between the Kurds and the Syrian army erupted on Tuesday in Aleppo, in northern Syria, and have caused the deaths of at least 21 people.

These are the most serious hostilities recorded in Syria’s second-largest city between the Islamist authorities who have taken over the country’s governance and the Kurds, a significant ethnic minority that controls large areas in the northeastern part of the country as well as some neighborhoods of Aleppo.

Moreover, as a result of the fighting, tens of thousands of civilians have been forced to flee their homes, with the United Nations estimating that at least 30,000 families have been displaced.

Early yesterday, Friday, the Syrian authorities declared a ceasefire, noting that Kurdish fighters who are surrounded by Syrian forces in the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods would be allowed to withdraw toward northeastern Syria and the autonomous Kurdish zone.

The authorities even transported buses to the area for the evacuation of the fighters. However, the Kurds refused any “surrender” and stated that they want to defend their neighborhoods.

Subsequently, the Syrian army announced that it would resume the bombardment of “military positions” in Sheikh Maqsoud, calling on residents to leave the area.

Late yesterday, an AFP correspondent reported shelling with heavy artillery and gunfire.

“The only option left to the armed elements in the Sheikh Maqsoud area of Aleppo is to surrender immediately, with their weapons in hand, at the nearest army checkpoint in exchange for guarantees for their lives and personal safety,” the Syrian Ministry of Defense said this morning.

The army warned that it “will respond with firmness and will destroy any source of fire in order to guarantee the security and stability of the area and to protect residents.”

Evacuations

The clashes erupted as the Kurds and the Syrian government are trying to implement the agreement they concluded in March, which provides for the integration of the institutions of the autonomous Kurdish administration and its armed wing, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), into the new Syrian state.

On Telegram, the SDF announced that during the night the Syrian army launched an attack “with strong tank cover and fierce artillery bombardment,” reiterating that they “continue to resist.”

For its part, Syrian state television accused the Kurds of launching drones against neighborhoods of Aleppo.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights noted that a 10-year-old girl was killed by army fire, while also reporting multiple rocket launches by Kurdish rebels targeting a military airport in eastern Aleppo.

According to the same source, seven members of the Syrian army were killed over a two-day period in the clashes.

During yesterday, the Syrian armed forces allowed civilians wishing to leave the two Kurdish neighborhoods of Aleppo to use two “humanitarian corridors” from 14:00 to 16:00 Greek time.

Meanwhile, the Syrian government, through the Ministry of Religious Affairs, announced that it opened 20 mosques to receive 400 displaced families “due to the escalation.”

A diplomatic source told AFP yesterday that the U.S. envoy Tom Barrack is “on his way to Damascus.”