SDF could besiege regime-controlled areas in NE Syria over Aleppo Kurdish neighbourhoods blockade

SDF could besiege regime-controlled areas in NE Syria over Aleppo Kurdish neighbourhoods blockade
The potential action by the Syrian Democratic Forces comes in response to a regime blockade of two Kurdish areas in Aleppo which has been going on for over a week.
2 min read
06 December, 2022
The Syrian regime is blockading the Kurdish-majority Sheikh Maqsoud area of Aleppo [GEORGE OURFALIAN/AFP via Getty Images-archive]

Kurdish-led forces in Syria could soon impose a siege on regime-controlled areas of two cities in response to a more-than-weeklong blockade of Kurdish-majority neighbourhoods in Aleppo.

The potential action by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) would take place in regime 'security squares'; enclaves held by forces loyal to President Bashar Al-Assad in Hasakah and Qamishli, Kurdish-controlled cities in Syria's northeast.

The SDF is the military wing of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), or Rojava.

AANES sources told The New Arab's Arabic sister site, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, that the regime's Fourth Division forces are stopping fuel, food and gas from entering the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyah neighbourhoods of Aleppo for the ninth day in a row.

These areas are inhabited by around 200,000 displaced Kurds from several regions.

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The sources said the Asayish, the AANES's police force, will soon start besieging the Hasakah and Qamishli security squares in a bid to force the regime to lift its blockade of Aleppo's Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyah neighbourhoods.

Electricity is "almost absent from the two neighbourhoods, which impacts negatively on all aspects of life, and threatens to stop workshops and factories" there, the sources added.

They said residents fear bakeries will stop operating due to the lack of fuel.

It is not the first time the Syrian regime and SDF have engaged in back-and-forth blockades.

Political activist Ibrahim Musallam, who is close to the AANES, said the regime besieges the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyah neighbourhoods to force concession from the AANES.

The AANES seeks to keep the symbolic regime presence in Hasaka province in order to refute regime and opposition claims that it is seeking to secede from Syria.

The regime's presence in the province also prevents Turkey, a key enemy of the AANES, from invading the area.