Overview
- Damascus declared a limited truce from 03:00 to 09:00 local time for Sheikh Maksud, Ashrafiyeh and Bani Seid, ordered Kurdish withdrawals, then announced new strikes and a corridor for civilians to leave.
- Kurdish local councils rejected any pullout, fighting resumed with tanks and artillery, and monitors reported hits on homes and hospitals along with at least 21 deaths and about 30,000 people displaced according to the UN.
- EU leaders Ursula von der Leyen and António Costa met President Ahmed al‑Scharaa in Damascus, pledged roughly €620 million for 2026–27 and voiced support for dialogue and conditions for refugee return.
- U.S. envoy Tom Barrack welcomed the pause and said Washington is working to extend it, while Turkey signaled it could assist Damascus if requested and framed the SDF as a terrorist threat.
- Aleppo has been under the transitional government since Assad’s fall in 2024, but Kurdish forces still hold Sheikh Maksud and Ashrafiyeh after a March integration deal went unrealized by the end‑2025 deadline.