Shafaq News – Aleppo

A powerful explosion rocked the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Monday near the Ashrafiyeh neighborhood, held by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), according to local sources.

Witnesses told Shafaq News that the blast sent thick plumes of smoke billowing over the area, though its cause remains undetermined.

No confirmed reports have yet emerged on casualties or material losses.

The incident followed overnight fighting between Syrian government forces and the SDF near Deir Hafer in Aleppo’s eastern countryside. Shafaq News correspondent confirmed that both sides traded heavy gunfire and rocket shelling across several frontlines before a tense calm was restored.

The SDF accused “armed groups linked to Damascus” of targeting residential neighborhoods with artillery and explosive drones, a claim the Syrian Defense Ministry rejected as “false and intended to conceal the SDF’s own violations against civilians” in northern and eastern Syria.