In Kurdish-held areas of Aleppo, Syria’s fractures come into focus

On the outskirts of Aleppo’s Ashrafieh district, there is sometimes a strange, uneasy stillness.

At other times, it descends into fatal violence.

Less than two weeks ago, it was the quiet unrest. Men at a joint checkpoint between Syrian security forces and their Kurdish peers, the Asayesh, inspected vehicles that came and went into the district’s narrow streets. Civilians amble beside the armed men.

But on Monday evening, violence broke out between Syrian government troops and the Kurdish militias who control Ashrafieh and the neighbouring Sheikh Maqsoud district, before agreeing to de-escalate.

Several civilians were killed, a witness and a local health official told The National. The civil defence forces confirmed that at least two first responders were injured in a shooting by the Kurdish militias, and the Syrian state news agency Sana accused them of striking a hospital. Videos in Syrian media showed civilians fleeing to a background of loud machinegun fire.

The area of north-western Aleppo is a microcosm of the cracks in security and governance that still run across Syria, more than a year after the regime of President Bashar Al Assad fell.

Kurdish fighters in Ashrafieh and Sheikh Maqsoud, home to tens of thousands of people, come under the Syrian Democratic Forces.

The group said civilians and some of its fighters were also injured, and held Damascus responsible for the violence. The Defence Ministry accused the SDF of starting the escalation by "suddenly attacking" Syrian military and security forces", Syria Telev