Kurdish political leader Ahmad Suleiman is urging dialogue between the Syrian army and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic forces to avoid ‘real disaster in Aleppo’ that could spread across the country. The Syrian army says a curfew will go into effect for the SDF-stronghold Sheikh Maqsoud neighbourhood this evening, but a humanitarian corridor is open for civilians to flee the district until then.
The outbreak of clashes between the Syrian army and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has highlighted the political and security challenges the country continues to face more than a year after the fall of former President Bashar al-Assad.
The fighting in Aleppo, which has killed at least 22 people this week, brought to the forefront fundamental tensions between Damascus and the SDF – both of which are backed by the United States.
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The SDF and the Syrian government had signed an agreement to integrate the Syrian-dominated forces into a state institution in March of last year. But little progress has been made on that front, and the sporadic violence between the two sides turned into intense fighting this week.
A truce to halt the clashes was announced on Friday, but it appears to be already unravelling. Analysts warn that without a comprehensive resolution to the tensions, more fighting is all but inevitable.
While it appears that there is no domestic or international appetite for an all-out war in Syria, experts say that with the merger of the SDF – which controls large parts of northeast Syria – into the state stalled, the threat of renewed violence persists.
“I don’t think there’s a lot of international interest in major fighting at the moment, especially from the US side — so that could help tamp things down,” said Aron Lund, a fellow at Century International.
“It’s far from over, however. All the main issues remain unresolved, and neither side is willing to compromise on fundamentals, so we’re going to see more clashes eventually.”
This week’s fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people in the predominantly Kurdish Sheikh Maqsoud, Ashrafieh and Bani Zeid neighbourhoods, with both sides accusing each other of initiating the violence.
Early on Friday, the Syrian Ministry of Defence announced a six-hour temporary ceasefire in the three neighbourhoods, which was later extended to give the SDF fighters more time to leave.
Syria’s Defence Ministry said SDF fighters based in Aleppo’s neighbourhoods will be redeployed to areas east of the Euphrates River.
However, Kurdish councils that run Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh said in a statement that calls to leave were “a call to surrender” and that Kurdish forces would instead “defend their neighbourhoods”.
The fighting casts its shadow over the March 2025 deal between Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s government and the SDF to bring the Kurdish-led forces under state institutions.
The agreement provides for a nationwide ceasefire, SDF cooperation with the state in confronting pro-al-Assad armed groups, and formal recognition of the Kurds as an integral part of Syria, with guaranteed citizenship and constitutional rights.
It also places all border crossings with Iraq and Turkiye, along with airports and oilfields in northeastern Syria, under the authority of the central government.
So far, no meaningful progress has been made towards integration. Both sides remain at odds over a number of issues, including the process and structure of integration, for example, whether the SDF would join as a unified bloc or dissolve into individual recruits.
A meeting on January 4 between senior SDF commanders and government officials concluded with no “tangible” outcomes according to state media, with talks suspended pending further negotiation.
The SDF rose to prominence as Syria began to fragment under the strain of civil unrest in 2011.
It was officially established in 2015, with the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish militia linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), forming the bulk of its fighting force.
Despite the PKK being listed as a “terrorist” group by the US and most Western countries, Washington quickly allied itself with the SDF in the fight against ISIL (ISIS).
The group continues to be backed by a US-led international coalition and retains advanced equipment and training that were provided by the US and its partners.
It is estimated to have 50,000 to 90,000 well-trained, battle-hardened fighters.
But Turkiye, which struggled with a decades-long PKK rebellion and attacks, views the SDF as a threat to its security.
In the recent clashes, official Syrian government media outlets have referred to the SDF as “PKK terrorists”.
With Turkiye, a NATO ally of the US, distrustful of the SDF, the country’s defence ministry has said it is ready to “support” Syria in its fight against the group.
Ankara, an ally of al-Sharaa’s government, has criticised Washington for years over its support for the SDF and launched several military operations in northern Syria to push the group off its border.
The intensifying rivalry between Turkiye and Israel has also raised concerns that the Israeli government may put its weight behind the SDF to provide a counterweight to Ankara’s influence in Syria.
Israel has already intervened in the internal Syrian conflict when it bombed Damascus in July in support of Druze fighters battling government forces in the south of the country.
The Israeli military has also expanded its occupation beyond the Golan Heights, and it has been establishing checkpoints and abducting people deep inside Syria’s territory.
The US, which has troops stationed in eastern Syria, is allied with all the parties involved: Turkiye, Israel, the Syrian government and the SDF.
And so, Washington has been trying to mediate between all the sides. Last week, Syria and Israel agreed to establish an intelligence-sharing mechanism after US-brokered talks.
US envoy Tom Barrack has urged the “utmost restraint” after the clashes in Aleppo and hailed the short-lived ceasefire.
“Together with our allies and responsible regional partners, we stand ready to facilitate efforts to de-escalate tensions and to afford Syria and its people a renewed opportunity to choose the path of dialogue over division,” Barrack said in a statement calling for de-escalation from all sides.
“Let us prioritize the exchange of ideas and constructive proposals over the exchange of fire. The future of Aleppo, and of Syria as a whole, belongs to its people and must be shaped through peaceful means, not violence.”
Nanar Hawach, senior Syria analyst at the International Crisis Group, said with both the government and SDF maintaining relationships with the US, it could limit the risk of the March agreement’s total collapse, saying it keeps a “ceiling on escalation”.
“American involvement does not guarantee resolution, but it constrains the range of outcomes and keeps both parties tethered to a negotiating framework neither can afford to abandon,” he told Al Jazeera.
Reporting from Damascus, Al Jazeera’s Ayman Oghanna said Washington can “do the most” to boost talks between the Syrian government and the SDF.
“The US has enjoyed a strong relationship with the SDF for over a decade. The US helped build up and train the SDF, it fought alongside the SDF, and 1,000 US troops remain in SDF territory where they work closely together in the effort to eradicate ISIL from Syria,” Oghanna said.
“But the US has also recently strengthened its ties with Damascus.”
Rob Geist Pinfold, an international security lecturer at King’s College London, said the temporary ceasefire in Aleppo simply pushes “the more complicated issues” down the road.
“Yes, we’ve got a temporary ceasefire … which makes everyone’s lives better, but this means that we are arguably further away from getting to a comprehensive deal.”
For his part, Lund, the analyst, warned that more clashes could lead to a wider escalation.
“Unless this situation is managed well, it could prompt foreign interventions and worsen the already bad relationship between Israel and Turkiye,” Lund told Al Jazeera.
Some analysts have said the key is more talks and less violence.
Armenak Tokmajyan, a non-resident scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center, argued that military pressure alone will not resolve Syria’s fragmentation.
“Reintegration … cannot happen just with force,” he told Al Jazeera, stressing the need for a multi-pronged strategy, including an inclusive national framework.
Chinese, Russian and Iranian warships have arrived in South African waters for a week of naval drills as geopolitical tensions run high over the United States’s military intervention in Venezuela and its seizures of several oil tankers.
China’s defence ministry said in a statement on Friday that the exercises, set to kick off with an opening ceremony on Saturday, are “joint operations to safeguard vital shipping lanes and economic activities”.
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Strikes on maritime targets and “counter-terrorism” rescues will be part of the drills, it said.
Chinese, Russian and Iranian ships were seen moving into and out of the harbour that serves South Africa’s top naval base in Simon’s Town, south of Cape Town, where the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic Ocean.
It was not immediately clear if other countries from the BRICS group – which also includes Brazil, India and the United Arab Emirates, among others – would take part in the drills.
A spokesperson for the South African armed forces said he wasn’t yet able to confirm all the countries participating in the drills, which are due to run until next Friday.
South Africa’s defence force said the event will allow the navies “to exchange best practices and improve joint operational capabilities, which contributes to the safety of shipping routes and overall regional maritime stability”.
The exercises come amid heightened tensions after the US military attacked the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, on Saturday and abducted the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro.
The Trump administration has also been seizing Venezuela-linked oil tankers in international waters, including a Russian-flagged vessel in the North Atlantic that Washington said had violated US sanctions.
The seizure drew rebuke from Moscow, with the Russian authorities describing the incident as a violation of international maritime law.
But Trump dismissed international law in an interview with The New York Times on Thursday, saying only his “own morality” can curb his administration’s aggressive policies.
Washington has also threatened to take action against Tehran over the Iranian authorities’ recent crackdown on mass demonstrations in the country.
The joint BRICS naval drills are expected to further strain ties between the US and South Africa, which has been especially targeted for criticism by the Trump administration.
The exercises were initially scheduled for November of last year but were postponed due to a scheduling clash with the G20 summit in Johannesburg.
Asked about the timing of the event, South Africa’s Deputy Defence Minister Bantu Holomisa said it was planned long before these tensions we are witnessing today”.
“Let us not press panic buttons because the USA has got a problem with countries,” Holomisa said. “Those are not our enemies.”
South Africa’s willingness to host Russian and Iranian warships has also been criticised inside the country, with the Democratic Alliance – the second largest political party in the coalition government – saying it was opposed.
Nigeria’s preparations for its Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinal against Algeria have been dogged by speculation about internal strife involving star striker Victor Osimhen and reports that the players were not being paid their bonuses.
Nigeria coach Eric Chelle would not comment on the reports on Friday, when he said such questions need to be directed to the Nigeria Football Federation.
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“This is my job, to stay focused – to try to stay focused – to stay focused about only the pitch (field), and definitely my job is on the pitch, not around,” Chelle said in Marrakesh a day before Nigeria plays Algeria in the city.
The NFF still advertises a vacancy for the position of head coach of the men’s team, a year and a day after it appointed Chelle to the position.
Nigerian media outlets reported that the players had threatened not to train or travel to Marrakesh for the match unless they were paid agreed bonuses for winning their first four Africa Cup games.
The team arrived in Marrakesh on Thursday and had their first training session there the same day. Chelle said they would train again later on Friday.
Chelle declined to comment about reports that Osimhen was on the verge of walking out of the team after an on-field argument with teammate Ademola Lookman during the Super Eagles’ 4-0 win over Mozambique in the last 16 on Monday.
“I prefer to speak about the (upcoming) game. Victor is there and that’s all,” Chelle said. “Yes, everyone’s speaking about Osimhen and Lookman, it’s normal, they’re the last two best African players, but we’re here to serve them to score, we’re working for them. We’re a team, and that’s what teamwork is all about.”
Osimhen scored two goals in that match with Lookman involved in both, but apparently he was furious when Lookman tried scoring instead of setting him up for another.
Lookman played down the argument when asked about it post-game, when he said it was “just football” and called Osimhen his “brother”.
Lookman also subsequently posted photos of himself celebrating with Osimhen on social media with the caption “together always”.
Nigeria, which lost the final to Ivory Coast in the last edition, is bidding to win the title for a fourth time. It would help make up for the disappointment of failing to qualify for the World Cup.
Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok has limited image generation on the social media platform X amid growing backlash over its use to create sexualised deepfakes of women and children.
Grok told X users on Friday that image generation and editing features were now available only to paying subscribers.
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The standalone Grok app, which operates separately from X, still allows users to generate images without a subscription.
The move comes after Musk was threatened with fines and several countries pushed back publicly against the tool that allowed users to alter online images to remove the subjects’ clothes.
The European Commission said on Monday that such images circulating on X were unlawful and appalling.
The United Kingdom’s data regulator also said it had asked the platform to explain how it was complying with data protection laws following concerns that Grok was generating sexually abusive images of women.
On Friday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office called the move to limit access to paying subscribers “insulting” to victims and “not a solution”.
“That simply turns an AI feature that allows the creation of unlawful images into a premium service,” a Downing Street spokesperson said. “It’s insulting the victims of misogyny and sexual violence.”
The EU executive, for its part, said it had “taken note of the recent changes”.
But EU digital affairs spokesperson Thomas Regnier told reporters, “This doesn’t change our fundamental issue, paid subscription or non-paid subscription.”
“We don’t want to see such images. It’s as simple as that,” he said, adding, “What we’re asking platforms to do is to make sure that their design, that their systems do not allow the generation of such illegal content.”
The European Commission has ordered X to retain all internal documents and data related to Grok until the end of 2026 in response to the uproar about the sexualised images.
France, Malaysia and India have also criticised Musk’s platform over the issue.
Musk said last week that anyone using Grok to create illegal content would face the same consequences as uploading such material directly.
This is not the first time that Grok has been criticised, after the chatbot last year was slammed for providing anti-Semitic responses to questions from X users.