Aleppo, Syria - April 4, 2025 The PKK/YPG terror group began withdrawing from the Aleppo city center on Friday, April 4, in accordance with an agreement with the Syrian government. The deal with the government and the PKK/YPG-led SDF, a terror group active in Syria, stipulates that PKK/YPG elements will pull out of the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods. The group’s so-called “internal security forces” in those areas will be unified under a single structure and placed under the Interior Ministry, according to Lt. Col. Mohammed Abdul Ghani, who attended talks with the terror group on behalf of the government. “All military forces will withdraw to northeastern Syria,” said Abdul Ghani. “Specific arrangements will be made by central committees and the Defense Ministry regarding the SDF’s military status. There will be no military presence in these two neighborhoods. Necessary mechanisms will be established, and the areas will be demilitarized.” He pointed out that steps would soon be taken to release detainees. “Currently, statistics are being compiled. Everyone arrested after the (Dec. 8, 2024) liberation will be released,” he said. “This agreement is specific to Aleppo province, but new deals will be made through the central committee to empty all prisons.” Regarding the status of the group's so-called security forces in the two neighborhoods, Abdul Ghani said they will be integrated into the Interior Ministry to help manage the situation in the neighborhoods. He noted the deal includes provisions for removing barricades in the neighborhood and forming committees to establish security checkpoints. Bashar Al-Assad, Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia on Dec. 8, ending the Baath Party’s regime, which had been in power since 1963. Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led anti-regime forces to oust Assad, was declared president for a transitional period on Jan. 29. In its nearly 40-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK—listed as a terror organization by Türkiye, the US, and the EU—has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 victims, including women, children, and infants. The YPG/PYD, which also uses the name SDF, is the PKK’s Syrian offshoot. PKK terrorists often hide out in northern Iraq to plot cross-border attacks in Türkiye, while the YPG/PYD has tried to establish a terror corridor in northern Syria along Türkiye’s borders.