Several thousand Syrian Kurds demonstrated on Tuesday in northeastern Syria to protest the expulsion of Kurdish fighters from the city of Aleppo, which occurred after several days of deadly clashes. In pouring rain, the demonstrators gathered in Qamishli, among other places, to express their solidarity with the residents of the Sheikh Maksoud and Achrafiya neighborhoods, who were evacuated following a ceasefire agreement.
The violence in Aleppo has reignited one of the country's most sensitive fault lines, while the president Ahmed al-Sharia The Syrian government claims it wants to unify Syria under a central authority after fourteen years of war. However, this ambition is hampered by the persistent mistrust of Kurdish forces towards a government dominated by former Islamist groups. Five days of fighting have left at least 23 dead, according to the Syrian Ministry of Health, while a Kurdish official puts the death toll at 48, attributing it to government forces—figures that Reuters was unable to verify.
In Qamishli, demonstrators held up portraits of slain Kurdish fighters and banners in the colors of the Kurdish forces. Some also displayed virulent slogans targeting the Syrian authorities and Turkey, which the Kurds accuse of supporting operations against their positions. The images reflected deep anger following the withdrawal, on January 11, of the last Kurdish fighters from Aleppo, ending the control they had exerted over certain areas of the city since the beginning of the conflict in 2011.
The Kurdish authorities still administer a semi-autonomous region in northeastern Syria and resist attempts at integration into the new central government that emerged from the fall of Bashar al-Assad An agreement reached in March 2025 to integrate Kurdish structures into the Syrian state is currently stalled. Kurdish officials have warned that it could be considered null and void if new offensives are launched against areas under their control.
Tensions are heightened by Ankara's stance, which accuses the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces of maintaining ties with the Kurdistan Workers' Party, designated a terrorist organization by Turkey. This regional dimension fuels concerns about a possible spillover of the conflict beyond Aleppo.
On Tuesday, the Syrian Ministry of Defense declared certain areas of eastern Aleppo "closed military zones" and ordered the withdrawal of its forces, an announcement seen by many Kurds as an alarming sign. For several protesters, the recent violence is reminiscent of previous sectarian massacres and fuels fears of a new spiral of war. "If a large-scale war breaks out, it will once again be the civilian population who pays the price," warned one of them, fearing the lasting fragmentation of the country.
