Clashes erupt in Aleppo as Syrian government and Kurdish forces trade warnings

Clashes broke out between the Syrian army and Kurdish militias in Aleppo city on Monday, with each side reporting casualties and accusing the other of attacking first.

The fighting came as Syria's Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shibani and his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan called on the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to honour an agreement to integrate into the new Syrian military created after the overthrow of the dictator Bashar Al Assad a year ago.

A statement on Syria’s state news agency, Sana, said the SDF was “targeting the vicinity of the Ashrafieh neighbourhood and the area extending from Shihan roundabout to Lairamoun roundabout with heavy machine guns, RPGs and mortars”.

Sana said one civilian had been killed in SDF shelling and rocket fire, and posted video of people fleeing their homes.

The head of the civil defence media office in Aleppo said earlier in a message to journalists that two first responders had been shot, one in the neck and one in the shoulder, by members of a Kurdish militia that controls two districts of north-western Aleppo. They had been taken to hospital, he added.

The SDF said two members of its internal security forces were injured in the clashes, in what it said was “an attack carried out by factions affiliated with the Damascus government's Defence Ministry”. “We hold the Damascus government fully responsible for these attacks,” the SDF said in a statement.

It later reported that five civilians were injured the clashes.

Sana said Kurdish militias also attacked positions held by the Syrian internal security forces, and that the main road to the Turkish border was closed as a result of the fighting.

Machinegun and rifle fire could be heard ringing out above the city in videos circulating online. The reason for the clashes was not immediately clear, but it is not the first time urban clashes have broken out in the area. Fighting broke out in October before the Defence Ministry announced a ceasefire.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shibani, right, and his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan hold a joint press conference in Damascus on Monday. EPA

Kurdish fighters with the US-backed SDF retained control of the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh districts in Aleppo after the fall of the Assad regime. The SDF, which also holds large areas of territory east of the Euphrates river, has not integrated into the central Syrian security forces, despite agreeing to do so in March.

Speaking at joint pr