Statement by our Central Executive Board:
Since last night, the Damascus Administration has carried out attacks using tanks, artillery, howitzers, and drones against the Kurdish neighborhoods of Şêxmeqsûd (Sheikh Maqsoud) and Eşrefiyê (Al-Ashrafiyah) in Aleppo, as well as Beni Zeyd, where Assyrians predominantly reside. According to a statement by the Aleppo Internal Security Forces, the attacks have resulted in the killing of seven civilians and the injury of at least 46 people. It has been stated that the Hamzat, Emşat, Sultan Murad, and Nurreddin Zengi groups- known to receive support from Turkiye- also took part in these attacks.
These attacks by the Damascus Administration and its affiliated forces, which for months have blocked the basic needs of civilians living in these neighborhoods, pose a clear threat to Syria’s political and administrative integrity and stability. As is known, pursuant to the March 10 Agreement, in April 2025 the Syrian Democratic Forces(SDF) withdrew heavy weapons from the Kurdish neighborhoods and transferred security responsibilities to local internal forces. The attacks carried out by the Damascus Administration nullify both the March 10 Agreement and the agreement reached on April 1, and place the lives of more than 200.000 civilians at risk. The attacks against Kurdish neighborhoods in Aleppo constitute an extermination operation. What was intended as a massacre against the Druze community in Suwayda is being attempted in an even more severe form against the Kurdish neighborhoods in Aleppo.
Let us not forget that Syria is a geography that is home to Arabs, Kurds, Druze, Armenians and all peoples and belief groups living there. The essential way to prevent the emergence of a new environment of conflict in Syria lies in the democratization of the country, Turkey’s responsibility is to support this democratization process and to encourage such a process.
Efforts to impose a monolithic regime and a centralized governing mentality from Damascus are extremely wrong, divisive and likely to trigger new conflicts. These efforts are unacceptable. Our solidarity with those who resist these efforts will continue.
We call on all actors mediating between the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria and the Damascus Administration: Immediately fulfill your responsibility as guarantors and prevent these military attacks, which carry the risk of turning all of Syria into a zone of new conflicts.
We once again emphasize that the only way to bring an end to chaos and conflict in Syria is for all Syrian peoples to establish a joint administration on the basis of democratic and equal rights. On this basis, dialogue must be maintained, and efforts must be made to develop military, economic and democratic integration.
DEM Party Central Executive Board
7 January 2026