Last Kurdish-led SDF fighters leave Syria’s Aleppo after days of clashes | News

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

The governor of Aleppo said the last SDF fighters left the city after the Syrian army took control of the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood.

The last fighters of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have left the city of Aleppo, officials said, following a ceasefire deal that allowed evacuations after days of deadly clashes.

Aleppo Governor Azzam al-Gharib told Al Jazeera on Sunday that Aleppo had become “empty of SDF fighters” after government forces coordinated their withdrawal from the city on buses overnight.

SDF commander Mazloum Abdi (also known as Mazloum Kobani) said the group had reached an agreement through international mediation on a ceasefire and the safe evacuation of civilians and fighters.

“We have reached an agreement that leads to a ceasefire and the evacuation of the dead, wounded, stranded civilians and fighters from the Ashrafieh and Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhoods to northern and eastern Syria,” he said in a message on X.

“We call on the mediators to fulfill their promises to end the violations and work towards the safe return of displaced people to their homes,” he added.

The development came after the Syrian army took control of the predominantly Kurdish neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsoud, following days of clashes that erupted when talks to integrate the SDF into the national army failed.

At least 30 people have been killed in the clashes, while more than 150,000 people have been displaced.

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