The Syrian army has warned Kurdish militias that it would strike “military targets” in Aleppo, as deadly exchanges continued for a third day in the latest round of urban warfare in the country’s second-largest city.
Public offices and schools were closed and flights suspended in the northern city on Wednesday, as government forces and Kurdish militias under the Syrian Democratic Forces continued to clash, said residents and government officials.
“We declare that all SDF military positions within the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighbourhoods are legitimate military targets for the Syrian Arab Army, following the group's significant escalation towards Aleppo's neighbourhoods and its perpetration of numerous massacres against civilians,” the Syrian army’s operations command said in a statement carried by state news agency Sana.
It warned civilians in the two areas under the control of the militias to “immediately distance themselves from SDF positions” and offered two “humanitarian corridors” until 3pm local time.
At least five people, including a child and two women, were killed overnight in attacks that Syrian government officials blamed on the Kurdish militias who control Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh, in north-west Aleppo.
According to Aleppo’s Directorate of Health, at least four civilians were killed, and 11 civilians were wounded, said Munir Al Mohammed, head of its media office.
He added that the Aleppo
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