A man rides a damaged car, as displaced residents return to the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood after days of fighting between government forces and SDF in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
Syria’s army and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) exchanged fire on Jan. 13 in a tense area of eastern Aleppo province, marking a possible escalation after days of clashes in the northern city.
No casualties were immediately reported, as an impasse continues in negotiations between the central government and SDF over merging its thousands of fighters into the national army.
The Syrian army earlier declared an area east of Aleppo as a “closed military zone." The region has been a tense frontline dividing areas under the Syrian government and large swaths of northeastern Syria under the SDF.
In a statement, SDF said government forces have started shelling Deir Hafer district. The organization later said government troops launched exploding drones, artillery and rockets to a village south of Deir Hafer.
Syrian state television later said the SDF targeted the village of Homeima on the other side of the Deir Hafer frontline with exploding drones.
Several days of deadly clashes in Aleppo last week displaced tens of thousands of people. They ended over the weekend with the evacuation of SDF forces from the contested neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsoud. Aleppo Governor Azzam Ghareeb said Damascus now has full control of Sheikh Maqsoud and Achrafieh, where clashes took place.
Syrian officials have accused SDF of building up its forces near the towns of Maskana and Deir Hafer, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) east of Aleppo city. SANA, the state news agency, reported that the army had declared the area a closed military zone because of “continued mobilization” by SDF.
