In post-Assad Syria, Kurdish-led SDF impose media blackout on Aleppo neighbourhoods

Aleppo, Syria - Dirt barriers and guards remained stationed outside two Kurdish-dominated enclaves in the city of Aleppo on Friday, as members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) left the neighbourhoods this week after an agreement with the Syrian government.

Security and administration in Aleppo’s Sheikh Maqsoud and Achrafiah neighbourhoods have been largely managed by the US-backed Kurdish-led SDF since 2015, which controls around 25% of Syria's territory, including most of the northeast.

Following a pact signed by Syrian interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa and SDF military commander Mazloum Abdi on 10 March, it was agreed that all areas would eventually be brought under government control and SDF units integrated into the national army.

Following the withdrawal of Kurdish fighters last week, armed guards from the SDF-linked Asayish security forces remained stationed at the entrance of Sheikh Maqsoud on Friday, inspecting bags and screening people entering the district.

Guards at Sheikh Maqsoud would not allow The New Arab and Al-Araby Al-Jadeed journalists entry to the North Aleppo neighbourhood without approval from the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), something we have sought for over a month.

At the security point in Sheikh Maqsoud, a small lone Syrian national flag now flies alongside six larger blue banners of the Asayish and Kurdish authorities. The entrance to the neighbourhood still shows signs of 14 years of fighting in the city of Aleppo, with damage from shelling and sniper positions visible in a wall of apartment blocks that surround the enclave.

The situation was similar in Achrafieh, where the flags of the Asayish security forces were visible from a long line of traffic waiting to enter the neighbourhood.

Bar sporadic checkpoints, most Syrians - including journalists - have been largely free to move around the country following the fall of Bashar Al-Assad on 8 December, whose regime killed 181 journalists since the start of the conflict in 2011, with no independent media allowed to operate in regime-controlled areas. 

The two Kurdish enclaves in Aleppo, like northeastern Syria, have remained largely autonomous throughout the war with their own administrative, security, and ‘visa’ procedures. 

This includes stringent protocols for foreign journalists operating in SDF-controlled areas, including requiring permission to enter the territories - approval Al-Araby Al-Jadeed and The New Arab have continuously sought over the past six weeks.

Shahira Salloum, managing editor of Al-Araby Al-Jadeed website, was with The New Arab during our attempts to enter Sheikh Maqsoud, and said her experience at the enclave was in stark contrast to reporting from other parts of Syria.

"We have entered all parts of Syria freely, and the one side that didn’t allow us into areas they control was the SDF," Salloum told The New Arab.

"It was a very strange experience for us given our previous experiences in Syria, where people and security forces opened their doors and spoke freely. It puts a question mark over their policies and their supposed commitment to democracy."

The situation was similar the the SDF-controlled ‘border point’ near Raqqa, where guards prevented The New Arab and Al-Araby Al-Jadeed journalists from accessing northeast Syria.

Media rights groups such as Reporters Without Borders have for years called on Kurdish-dominated authorities in the northeast to lift restrictions on journalists, with foreign and Syrian reporters needing approval from the AANES to access areas under their control.

In addition to this stringent accreditation process for foreign media entering the northeast, journalists also require a local fixer to operate in the area.

Local journalists have also been jailed for writing critically about the AANES, while broadcasters such as Rudaw and Kurdistan 24, which cover Kurdish politics in Syria and Iraq, have also faced restrictions in the territories. 

The agreement signed between Abdi and Sharaa in March stipulates that all border points, airports, and oil fields will come under the control of the Damascus government by the end of the year.

Since the agreement was signed, there has been prisoner exchanges between the two sides, while Kurdish rights will be guaranteed, including a lifting on restrictions on the teaching of the Kurdish language implemented during the Baathist regime.

SDF fighters will also withdraw from Sheikh Maqsoud and Achrafieh, with two batches leaving the two Aleppo enclaves over the past week and heading for northeast of Syria - an Arab-majority region but under the control of a Kurdish-dominated political and security apparatus.

Kurds who lost their nationality during Bashar and Hafez Al-Assad’s rule will also be given Syrian citizenship, while internally displaced Kurds will be allowed to return to their homes.

The deal ends years of conflict between the SDF and rebel forces now integrated into the Syrian government, including Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, was once led by Al-Sharaa, which has fought fierce clashes with Kurdish militias in Aleppo.