Zürcher Nachrichten - Syrians in Kurdish area of Aleppo pick up pieces after clashes

While they picked up the pieces in the city's Ashrafiyeh neighbourhood, the city's only other Kurdish-majority district Sheikh Maqsud still remained off limits after suffering the worst of the fighting.

Many locals like wheelchair-bound Abdul Qader Satar returned to Ashrafiyeh on Sunday to inspect their homes after days of violence.

"I left on the first day and took refuge in one of the mosques," the 34-year-old told AFP while loading belongings onto his wheelchair.

"We left quickly with only the clothes on our backs... and now we are back to check on the house."

Others said they remained in their homes despite the violence, hoping calm would prevail between the government in Damascus and the Kurdish fighters.

"We didn't want things to get this bad. I wish the Kurdish leadership had responded to the Syrian state. We've had enough bloodshed," said Mohammed Bitar, 39, who stayed in the Ashrafieh neighbourhood.

"There's no Arab, no Kurd, we're all Syrians."

But the deadly clashes that erupted in the Kurdish-majority neighbourhoods on Tuesday left dozens dead and displaced around 155,000 people, according to Syrian authorities.

Syria's government has since taken full control of the two areas as of Sunday, after agreeing the transfer of Kurdish fighters from the districts to Kurdish autonomous areas in the country's northeast.

- 'Closed military zone' -

In the streets of Ashrafiyeh, crumbled walls had turned black from explosions while families and children carried blankets and bags home to inspect damage to their homes under a heavy security presence.

"We were sitting safely in our homes... suddenly, heavy gunfire erupted. We left our homes under the bullets and fled," clothing seller Yahya al-Sufi, 49, told AFP in Ashrafiyeh.

"When we returned, we found holes in the walls and our homes had been looted... Now that things have calmed down, we're back to repair the walls and restore the water and electricity," he added, while supervising workers repairing the holes in his wall.

While many left the neighbourhood, Ammar Abdel Qader chose to stay with his family.

Standing in front of the pharmacy where he works, the 48-year-old said "there was fear of the bombing, and most people left, but my family and I stayed and took refuge in the inner rooms".

"Now normal life has returned to Ashrafiyeh, things are good, and people are returning to their homes."

The last area to fall to the Syria army, the Sheikh Maqsud neighbourhood near Ashrafiyeh, was still closed off to those who wanted to return.

Kurdish fighters had entrenched themselves in a hospital in the area until Syrian authorities announced their transfer on Sunday.

An interior ministry source told AFP the neighbourhood was still considered a "closed military zone" despite the departures.

Ambulances later entered Sheikh Maqsud as authorities combed the area after the last Kurdish fighters had left.

- 'We will fight' -

Syrian authorities and the Observatory both said the violence in the districts killed dozens.

In Qamishli city in the Kurdish-controlled northeast, the evacuated fighters were met with tears and pledges of vengeance from hundreds of people who gathered to greet them.

Upon his arrival, one fighter vowed "revenge" after embracing his mother as they both wept.

An AFP correspondent saw crossed-out images of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and US envoy Tom Barrack, as people chanted against the Syrian leader.

"We will avenge Sheikh Maqsud... we will avenge our fighters, we will avenge our martyrs," Umm Dalil, 55, said.

"The Kurdish people will not fall, the Kurdish people will triumph, we will fight until the end and victory will be ours."

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A.Senn--NZN