Overview
- Officials and an AP journalist reported buses carried about 360 Kurdish-led SDF fighters from Sheikh Maqsoud to northeast Syria under a mediated arrangement.
- Syrian security forces now hold the Aleppo neighborhoods of Achrafieh and Bani Zaid, and declared Sheikh Maqsoud a military closed zone for clearing operations.
- At least 23 people were killed over five days of urban combat and more than 140,000 residents were displaced, according to reporting from the affected areas.
- Rescue teams and UN convoys began entering damaged districts, while Syrian Civil Defense started demining improvised explosive devices to allow eventual returns.
- State media blamed Kurdish fighters for explosive drone strikes, including at the governorate building, which the SDF denied, as the U.S. envoy urged a halt to hostilities and a return to talks.