Aleppo, Syria (EFE).- Around 500 fighters from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) withdrew from the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Friday as part of a negotiated agreement with the country’s transitional government.
The remainder fighters are expected to leave in the coming days, once a prisoner exchange is completed, according to local officials.
“The prisoner swap will be carried out in two phases in the coming days, after that, the Kurdish forces will completely withdraw from Aleppo’s neighborhoods,” said Mohamed Arhim, a spokesperson for Aleppo’s new city istration.
The agreement, reached earlier this week, involves the SDF’s full withdrawal from the majority-Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh, areas long held by the Kurdish alliance but geographically separated from its main strongholds in eastern Syria.
The transition of control began Friday, with the departure of the first convoy of fighters heading east of the Euphrates River under supervision from the Syrian Ministry of Defense.
“The neighborhoods will now be istered by the General Security Forces and the Ministry of Interior,” Arhim confirmed.
Temporary arrangement and shifting power balance
The Kurdish withdrawal follows years of tension between Kurdish groups and the regime of former president Bashar-al-Assad, who was ousted in December, leading to a transition of power that ended in late March.
The two Aleppo districts had experienced repeated sieges and clashes over the past decade.
Zana Amedi, a spokesperson for the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YGP), confirmed the retreat via social media.
“Our forces are leaving Aleppo, handing over the areas to our allies in the Asayish,” he wrote on X, referring to the Kurdish internal security force.
Amedi shared a video showing YPG and Women’s Protection Unit’s (YPJ) vehicles departing the city to applause and waves from residents.
The transitional deal allows the Asayish to maintain two local centers in the neighborhoods, but full security control will be transferred to Damascus.
A t committee will later evaluate long-term governance in these areas.
The agreement also includes a prisoner exchange. According to Kurdish sources, 146 SDF-d detainees and 97 government-aligned prisoners were released Thursday in the first round of the swap.
Just two weeks ago, the SDF and Syria’s new government agreed to begin integrating Kurdish fighters into the state, 10 days after reaching a broader political accord to end years of division.
Who are the Syrian Kurds?
The Kurds are an ethnic group spread across Syria, Iraq, Turkey, and Iran, without a recognized state of their own.
In Syria, the Kurdish population is concentrated in the northeast, where they established a semi-autonomous istration after the start of the civil war in 2011.
The Syrian Democratic Forces, backed by the US during the fight against the Islamic State, are primarily composed of Kurdish fighters from the YPG and YPJ.
While they gained international recognition for defeating ISIS, relations with Damascus remained tense due to their demands for autonomy.
The recent agreement marks a significant shift in Syria’s political landscape as the new transitional government works to restore centralized authority and end over a decade of fragmentation.
Syrian Foreign Minister Assad-al-Shaibani expressed hope that growing international for the new istration would lead to the lifting of long-standing sanctions.
“There is hope these unjust sanctions will be lifted, allowing Syria to rebuild and recover,” he said earlier this week. EFE
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