Syrian army sends troops to rural Aleppo to stop any SDF attempt to regroup 

The Syrian army has sent reinforcements to rural eastern Aleppo, after observing the arrival of more Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) forces in the area, following days of deadly battles inside the city itself and the departure of the SDF.

The official news agency SANA broadcast footage on Monday of Syrian army troops heading towards the deployment line east of Aleppo.

SANA quoted the Syrian Army Operations Authority as saying: “We have observed the arrival of more armed groups to the deployment points of the SDF organisation in the eastern Aleppo countryside near Maskana and Deir Hafer.”

The agency added: “According to our intelligence sources, these new reinforcements included a number of fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK),” which last year began withdrawing all its forces from Turkiye to northern Iraq as part of a peace process with Turkiye, bringing an end to a months-long disarming process following a four-decade armed conflict that killed tens of thousands of people.

The SDF denied the Syrian Ministry of Defence’s accusations that it had deployed military forces to the Deir Hafer front in the eastern Aleppo countryside.

It said there were no unusual movements or preparations in the area, adding that the gatherings that took place were limited to civilians from northern and eastern Syria to receive the wounded from the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighbourhoods in the city of Aleppo.

Syrian government forces on Monday were carrying out security sweeps in the city of Aleppo.

As some residents displaced by the fighting began returning to their areas, army forces were working to remove explosive devices and weapons in other parts.

Residents of Ashrafieh, the first of the two neighbourhoods to fall to the Syrian army, began returning to their homes to inspect the damage, finding shrapnel and broken glass littering the streets on Sunday.

“Most people are returning to Ashrafieh, and they have begun to rebuild as there has been a lot of destruction,” said Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith, reporting from Aleppo.

He added that this was not the case for Sheikh Maqsoud, where government forces were still searching for explosives.

Smith added that Syrian forces were also looking for opposition prisoners arrested by the SDF during the rule of former leader Bashar al-Assad, who was overthrown in December 2024 by forces led by the current president, Ahmed al-Sharaa.

United States envoy Tom Barrack met al-Sharaa on Saturday and afterwards issued a call for a “return to dialogue” in accordance with the integration agreement.

The departure of the fighters marks the removal of SDF from pockets of Aleppo, which it has held since Syria’s war began in 2011.

Syrian health authorities said on Sunday at least 24 civilians have been killed and 129 wounded in SDF attacks since last Tuesday.

Munir al-Mohammad, media director at Aleppo’s health directorate, said the casualties were caused by repeated attacks targeting civilian areas, according to SANA.

The United Kingdom-based monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which follows the developments in Syria through a network of sources on the ground, reported that 45 civilians were killed along with 60 soldiers and fighters from both sides.