Syrian government forces evacuated over 400 Kurdish fighters from Aleppo and detained 300 Kurds, following stalled integration talks
ALEPPO: Syrian government forces have evacuated more than 400 Kurdish fighters from the last Aleppo district to fall to the army.
An interior ministry official, speaking anonymously, also confirmed the detention of 300 Kurds.
Kurdish forces stated the combatants were evacuated “through the mediation of international parties to stop the attacks and violations against our people in Aleppo”.
The evacuation follows clashes in Aleppo city earlier this week after negotiations to integrate Kurds into the country’s new government stalled.
The ministry official said 419 fighters, including 59 wounded, were transferred from the Sheikh Maqsud neighbourhood to the Kurds’ de facto autonomous zone in the northeast.
An AFP correspondent witnessed buses filled with men leaving Sheikh Maqsud under government escort overnight.
The official added that 300 other Kurds, including fighters, have been arrested.
On Saturday, an AFP correspondent saw dozens of young men in civilian clothing seated on the ground and guarded by security forces before being transported to an unknown location.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor told AFP that 300 “young Kurds” had been arrested, stating they were “civilians, not fighters”.
In the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli in the northeast, hundreds gathered for the arrival of the wounded, according to AFP correspondents.
