Shafaq News – Damascus

The United States has stepped up contacts with the Syrian government and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to halt clashes in Aleppo, a security source told Shafaq News on Tuesday.

According to the source, the US State Department pressed both sides to shift toward dialogue aimed at securing a lasting ceasefire in Aleppo and across all contact lines.

Shafaq News correspondent reported relative calm in the morning in the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighbourhoods. The lull followed clashes that erupted on Monday between Kurdish SDF-affiliated Internal Security Forces (Asayish) and Syrian government forces, leaving at least four civilians dead and 17 others wounded.

Responsibility for the escalation remained disputed, with Asayish reporting that its positions had come under attack, while Syria’s Interior Ministry accused SDF elements stationed at joint checkpoints of triggering the violence.

The correspondent also noted that civilian movement into or out of the neighbourhoods has been halted since the clashes began, adding that meetings are expected between local neighbourhood representatives and Syrian government officials to ease tensions, restore normal conditions, and reopen roads.

Tensions in the area have flared repeatedly since the fall of the former Bashar Al-Assad government. In October, at least ten people were injured or suffered tear gas inhalation when Syrian government forces dispersed a protest against road closures leading to the two neighbourhoods, according to an SDF statement at the time.