In Syria, the terrorist organization PKK/YPG, using the name SDG, continues to withdraw from the city center of Aleppo as per the agreement signed with the Damascus government. The second convoy carrying the PKK/YPG terrorists who occupied the neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyye in Aleppo has exited the city. According to the agreement signed between the Syrian government and PKK/YPG on April 1st, this convoy of 60 vehicles heading east of the Euphrates River included around 500 terrorists. The terrorists left Aleppo under the protection of forces affiliated with the General Security Directorate. The withdrawal of the terrorists is expected to continue in the coming days. The first convoy carrying terrorists had withdrawn from Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyye neighborhoods on April 4th.

The toppled Ba’ath regime, in 2012, handed over some areas in the north of the country to PKK/YPG under the condition that they would not engage in armed actions against it. The organization used the neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyye in Aleppo as a “terror” base. The terrorists committed crimes such as killing, kidnapping, and forcibly recruiting people into their armed ranks, and they extorted taxes from local businesses. The organization’s practice of abducting children after school and forcibly incorporating them into their armed ranks in Aleppo was documented in numerous reports. In 2016, the organization strategically supported the regime and Russia’s siege and capture of Aleppo through the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood.

Following the collapse of the Ba’ath regime, the terrorists who continued their occupation in Aleppo initiated an attack on the army forces in Aleppo simultaneous with the attacks by elements of the toppled regime on the coastal region at the beginning of last month. After the regime’s collapse, PKK/YPG deployed snipers in those neighborhoods. According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), at least 65 civilians lost their lives in the sniper attacks between November 30, 2024, and January 30, 2025.