The Syrian Army said late Friday it has begun a military operation in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood of Aleppo against the terrorist organization YPG/SDF after all deadlines granted to the group to withdraw from the area expired.
In a statement carried by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), the army’s Operations Command said that it had attempted to halt SDF “violations” by reaching an agreement that would allow the group’s fighters to leave Sheikh Maqsoud with their weapons.
Instead, the army said, the SDF targeted evacuation buses on three occasions, shelled army positions and attacked soldiers, resulting in the death of three Syrian soldiers and the wounding of more than 12 others.
“An SDF policy of delay – accompanied by systematic shelling and attacks on civilian and military sites in Aleppo – has undermined the prospects of reaching any new agreement with the group,” the army said.
The army also said it uncovered the presence of a large number of terrorist YPG fighters in Sheikh Maqsoud, who participated alongside the SDF in the killing of more than 10 Kurdish youths who refused to fight with them, followed by the burning of their bodies to intimidate residents of the neighborhood.
After the expiration of all deadlines, the army said it has launched an operation to remove SDF forces from Sheikh Maqsoud. Once the operation is completed, the neighborhood will be handed over to internal security forces and state institutions to begin their work immediately, the statement said.
